Partners
by brittanydelko4ever
Summary: AU Morgan/Prentiss re-posted. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Fighting off the butterflies in my stomach, I push open the Chief of Detectives Jason Gideon's office door. He had called me yesterday and told me to report to his office first thing in the morning, so there I was. The fact that he had called me personally could only mean one of two things: either I did really well on my detectives exam or I did horrible and was getting fired or something like that. After a year as a patrol cop, I was desperately hoping for the first option. Speeding tickets and traffic violations were not my thing; I was made to be a homicide detective. I just knew it. With a shaky breath I step into his office.

"Chief, you wanted to see me?" I ask, waiting quietly for his response.

"Ahh, Detective Prentiss, come and have a seat." Gideon says, motioning for me to sit in the empty chair across from him.

"Detective?" I question, lowering myself into the chair. Once seated, I start fiddling with my hands nervously in my lap and continue. "Does that mean I passed?"

"Yes, you passed." he says, standing up from his chair. The man walks over to his filing cabinet and pulls a file out of the top drawer before sitting back down and opening the file. I immediately recognize it as my file.

"Not only did you pass, you scored the highest possible in every category. To put it simply, you got a perfect score." Gideon says, looking back up at me. I just stare back at him in shock.

"Prefect?" I ask.

"Yes. It's only been done a handful of times before." Gideon explains. "Congratulations." Gideon extends his hand out over the desk toward me. I shake his hand with a smile on my face, seeing as the initial shock had worn off.

"So what happens now?" I ask, dropping my arm back to my side.

"Well, I have some paper work I need you to sign, you get your new badge, and you meet you partner." The older man says, getting up and walking over to my side of the desk, a stack of papers in his hand. Sitting in the chair to my right, he sets the papers down on the desk in front of me.

"You're basically just resigning the same papers you did after you graduated the academy. Do you need me to go over them?"

"No, I remember what they say." I reply, picking up the pen.

"Okay, I need you to initial here, here and here." He says flipping through the pages and pointing to various lines on the pages "Last but not least, sign here and on the last page." Gideon finishes. I quickly initial and sign everything while he walks back over to the other side of his desk and opens the bottom drawer. My heart skips a beat when I see him pull the blue velvet box out of the drawer. I place the pen down and slide the papers back toward him as he takes the brand new shining gold badge out of the box.

"Great! That's all settled; this is yours. Congratulations, Detective." he says, shaking my hand for the second time as he hands me the badge with his other hand.

"Thank you, Sir. I won't let you down." I say with determination as I run my thumb over the badge number - 20453.

"I know you won't. Please, call me anything but 'Sir'; it makes me feel old." Gideon requests. "Would you like to meet your partner?"

"Uh, yes, please."

"Okay, I'll go get him. Wait here." Gideon responds, walking out the door and leaving me sitting in the office.

'Detective Emily Prentiss' I tell myself, smiling, as I wait nervously for him to return.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! and a special thanks to my lovely beta. Review if you want!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: chapter two is up! thank you to everyone who reviewed,favorited, or alerted. i LOVE getting those emails ! keep 'em coming.**

Chapter Two

Gideon returns a few moments later, followed by a tall black man. The black man who is presumably my partner has got to be one of the hottest men I've ever seen in my 25 and a half years on this earth. When they enter the office, I quickly stand up and straighten out the wrinkles in my shirt. Gideon steps forward and introduces us.

"Detective Emily Prentiss, this is Detective Derek. The two of you are going to be partners." he says motioning between the two of us. Detective Morgan and I shake hands.

"It's nice to meet you, Detective" Morgan says. A tiny bolt of electricity shoots through my body when our hands touch.

"You too; please, call me Emily" I reply, quickly dropping my arm back down to my side.

"Only if you promise to call me Derek" He say flashing his pearly whites. I feel my insides melt just a little as I smile back, God he's gorgeous.

"Okay, now that you guys have been introduced, Derek, why don't you show Emily around. Emily, after the tour you can head home. You start first thing in the morning." Gideon instructs.

"Okay, sounds good" both Derek and I say at the same time, this brings a smile to both of our faces. Moments later we walk out of Gideon's office.

"You know, you don't really need to give me the tour; I know where everything is." I state, breaking the silence as we walk toward the squad room.

"Great! So why did you choose homicide, if you don't mind me asking?" Derek asks as we walk.

"No, that's fine. I guess it's been a dream of mine, ever since career day in 6th grade. A classmate's dad came and was telling us about his job as a homicide detective. He made an impression on me. I decided then it's what I wanted to do. What about you?" I reply simply.

"My dad was a detective; he was killed in the line of duty when I was eight. I always wanted to follow in his footsteps." His words were solemn, but matter-of-fact.

"I'm sorry." I reply, not really knowing how to respond.

"Yeah," Derek says, stopping in front of two desks pulled together. "That ones yours and that ones mine." he tells me, pointing to the desks as he sits at his own.

"If you don't mind me saying, you seem a little young to be a lead detective. How long have been in homicide?" I question as I sit down in my chair.

"Three years now. I just got promoted to lead detective, hence the need for a partner. And I'm not as young as you think. I'm 28." Derek responds.

"Wow, you're ancient!" I joke with a smile. "Well, I should probably take off. I'm sure you got work to do. It was nice to meet you." I declare as I stand up.

"You to. I'll see you tomorrow, Emily." He responds, cracking open one of the case files on his desk.

"See you tomorrow Derek." I walk out of the office, not looking back once.

As soon as I merge into traffic, I grab my cell phone out of my pocket and dial the number of my best friend, Jennifer Reid. Jen and I had been best friend since High School. My mom had been transferred back to the states in the middle of my sophomore year and Jen had immediately befriended me. She was only a couple months younger than me, so we got along really well. We instantly became inseparable. After high school we spent four years at Miami University sharing a dorm. She graduated with a journalism degree, and I graduated with a degree in psychology. After that I went off to the Police Academy while she started her job at the local paper. Three months later I graduated the Academy and started my rookie year with the Miami Police Department. At the same time, Jen had established herself at the paper and was promoted to crime reporter. Now, two years later, she was the paper's star reporter and I was a homicide detective. The third member of our posse was Penelope Garcia; we met her at Miami University. She was a year ahead of us in school. When she graduated, she went straight to med school, graduating at the top of her class. She was now working with the medical examiner's office.

"Hey, Em, how did you do?' Jen's familiar cheerful voice comes through the other end of the phone.

"Oh my gosh, Jen! I can't believe it. I aced it!" I gush excitedly.

"That's great! I knew you would!" she exclaims. I can hear the enthusiasm in her voice, even over the phone.

"Tell her I said congrats!" I hear Penelope holler in the background. She sounds more excited than I feel!

"Did you hear that?" Jen asks. I nod, even though I know she can't hear my gesture.

"Yeah, thanks guys."

"So, did you get to meet your partner?" Jen questions curiously. I nod again.

"Yes, I did." I say vaguely.

"Ooh do tell" Garcia says excitedly. Obviously I had been put on speakerphone.

"What's his name?" Jen asks.

"Derek Morgan."

"Sounds familiar; I've heard good things about him." Jen says. "What is he like?"

"Oh, tall dark and handsome. He seems okay. I only talked to him for a few minutes." I shoot back immediately and without hesitation.

"Just your type." Garcia declares resolutely. I can hear the delight in her voice, and I know she's already planning something. She had been trying to set me up for months.

"Enough about me. What are you guys doing?" I query in an attempt to change the subject.

"We both have today off too, so we are getting ready to go to the beach. What about you?" Jen replies.

"Chief gave me the rest of the day off, so I'm on my way home. What about Kevin?"

"He's at work." Garcia explains. "Why don't you meet us at the beach, and then tonight we're going to go out and celebrate." Garcia suggests. I ponder this for a moment.

"Okay, sounds great. I better get off the phone, see you guys in about 20 minutes." I agree.

"Bye" both Jen and Garcia say into the phone. Seconds later the phone call is disconnected.

As the hands on the clock approach 8:45 I let out a frustrated sigh. The girls were picking me up in fifteen minutes and I still couldn't find anything to wear. My bedroom was littered with discarded clothes. I continue to dig through the clothes in my closet until I _finally_ find the perfect dress. I quickly change into the dress and fix my hair.

When I'm finished, it is 8:58. Just in time, I tell myself as I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair was straightened and hung loosely around my shoulders. To top that off, I had applied just a touch of make-up. The dress I had picked out was midnight blue and strapless, it stopped mid-thigh and hugged my curves perfectly. I quickly slip into my black stiletto heels, grab my jacket along with my handbag and head outside just as Jen was pulling up to the curb.

"Wow, Em, you look hot!' Penelope comments when we get to the club and I remove my jacket.

"Why thank you, so do you guys." I reply as we find a table in the corner.

Jen was wearing a pair of cut off jean shorts and a black shirt with a deep v-neck that showed off her cleavage. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Garcia was wearing jeans and a purple top, a flower in her hair. I volunteer to get our drinks while they sit at the table. I return ten minutes later two beers, and a cosmopolitan in my hands.

An hour and two drinks later, we were still at our table, having turned down many offers to dance. We were in the middle of a conversation about Jen's brother Spencer's latest book when Garcia nudges me in the shoulder.

"What?' I demand, swiveling my head to glare at her.

"That really delicious guy in the corner is totally checking you out; you should go talk to him." At her remark, both Jen and I turn our heads to where she was pointing. I choke on my beer.

"Definitely! Go talk to him, Em. He's way hot" Jen agrees. I shake my head emphatically.

"Uh, guys, that's Derek, my partner." I tell them, having briefly recovered from my choking spell.

"That's him?" Jen and Penelope say in disbelief' as they continue to stare.

"Uh huh." I mumble, shaking my head up and down. "Okay, could you guys not stare? He's going to think I'm crazy." I request ten seconds later when they still hadn't stopped staring.

"Right. Sorry." Jen answers. They turn their attention back to their drinks.

"Are you going to talk to him?" Garcia presses. Knowing she won't let it go until she gets her way, I get up and walk over to him. On my way over I turn my head and mouth 'happy' to Garcia. Both Jen and Penelope nod their heads yes with grins on their faces. As I approach Derek's table, he puts his drink down and turns toward me with a smile.

"Hey Derek" I address him, nervously tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. Please god, don't let me make a fool of myself, that's the last thing I need especially if I have to work with him in the future.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

(Derek's POV)

So far my day was going great, and from the look of things it was about to get better. When I went to work this morning, Gideon introduced me to my new partner. When I found out I was getting a partner today I had been worried. This was my chance to prove myself as lead detective and I didn't want to ruin it by not getting along with some rookie detective. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Her name was Emily Prentiss and she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen with her black hair, porcelain skin and brown eyes. There was something in her eyes that pulled me in and wouldn't let go. I couldn't wait to start working with her. After she had left I managed to close two of my three open cases, substantially lightening my work load.

When I got home I had planned on crashing on the couch with a six pack and watching the football game. Those plans however had quickly changed. Five minutes after I walked in the door my good friend Aaron Hotchner called inviting me out for drinks to celebrate our mutual friend Dave Rossi's latest court win. I quickly accepted, after changing into a t-shirt and jeans I left to meet them at the club. Dave and Aaron or Hotch as we liked to call him, were my two best friends. We met ten years ago when we were assigned to the same dorm room. Dave had been a year ahead of us in school but that didn't matter. Now Dave and Aaron both worked for the D. A.'s office as assistant district attorneys and I frequently worked with them on my cases. Dave had worked for the D.A. for five years now and Aaron for four. They had quickly built up a reputation for themselves and were to go -to guys in the office. They were currently talking about opening their own firm. Dave was a major playboy; his antics always had us entertained. Aaron was happily married; he married his high school sweetheart Haley and they had a 2 year old son.

When I get to the club, the guys were already there so I joined them at their table. For the first hour we just sat around catching up, talking about everything from our cases to our love lives or lack thereof. being interrupted multiple by Dave pointing out girls, and dance offers. They were really interested when I told them about Emily Prentiss. I spent the next thirty minutes after I had mentioned her regretting it while simultaneously ignoring comments that I should 'go for it'. Aaron and Dave knew I was single so they were always trying to set me up with someone. As annoying as it was, I knew they only did it because they cared.

Hotch was in the middle of telling us about something his son had done that morning when Dave nudged both of us in the arm to get our attention. This was probably the fifteenth time since we'd been there that he had done this and I was getting annoyed. "Yes, Dave?" I snap.

"Check out that blonde in the corner." he says, pointing to one of the corner tables. He is obviously unfazed by my annoyance.

Aaron and I turn our heads to look to where he was pointing and the room stands still. There she was, Emily Prentiss in the flesh, head thrown back in laughter as she carried on a conversation with the Blonde Dave had mentioned. Her hair was down and she looked beautiful.

"Derek," Hotch and Dave yell snapping me back to reality who knows how long later. Looking over at Emily, I realize I'm being stared at by her and her friends. Oh crap. She's going to think I'm a stalker.

"Right. Sorry" I reply, turning my attention back to them.

"I saw her first man; hands off." Dave comments as the waitress comes back with our drinks.

"Not the blonde, the one beside her with the black hair. That's Emily, my partner." I tell them as I take a drink of my beer.

"Wow, she is beautiful." Hotch observes, taking a sip of his scotch.

"Here she comes." Dave announces, pointing behind me to emphasize his point. Looking in the direction he is pointing I see her walking over to us. Her blue dress hugs her curves perfectly. I smile at her and she smiles back. When she approaches our table I set my drink down.

"Hey, Derek" she says as she tucks a loose piece of hair behind her ear.

"Emily, you look great. What brings you here?" I try not to stare to much. I don't want to creep her out, but damn she looks good.

"Thanks, you too." she responds with a smile. "Jen dragged me out to celebrate me making detective, what about you?" I ask relaxing a little, maybe this wasn't so bad.

"Same, we're celebrating Dave's court win."

"Is Jen the hot blonde? "Dave interrupts, causing all of us to laugh.

"Is he always that forward?" Emily asks, motioning to Dave.

"Yep, after a few drinks he gets worse. Just ignore him like we do. Emily, this is Dave Rossi and Aaron Hotchner. Guys, this is Emily Prentiss." I introduce the three of them.

"Nice to meet you Emily." Hotch greets her.

"Derek here has told us a lot about you, its nice to put a face to the name, and a beautiful face I might add." Dave says.

"Thank you, its nice to meet you guys too!" Emily replies, shooting me a curious look.

"Well, is it?" Dave insists impatiently. He finally begs her as if it's killing him to find out.

"Yeah, that's Jennifer Reid and the red head is Penelope Garcia." she says with a laugh. "Would you like to meet them?"

"Sure." Dave answers for us, a huge grin plastered on his face.

A few minutes later, Penelope and Jen join us at our table. After the introductions, we order more drinks and settle around the table. We spend the night talking and dancing. By the end of the night the six of us were old friends. We learned a lot about each other and discovered we had a lot in common, starting with our jobs; we all worked within the criminal justice system. Also, the three women had been best friends since college just like Aaron, Dave, and I. Penelope worked for the Medical Examiner's office and Jen was a reporter with the Miami Herald, so I knew I would see them around. Also, by the end of the night Dave and Jen exchanged phone numbers and Penelope and Hotch had set up a double date with their significant others. At 2:30 Emily and I were the only ones left at the club. Since it was so late and we had to work in the morning, we decided to call it a night. We ended up sharing a cab since we were both too drunk to drive and our rides had left us there.

**A/n: there you go chapter three, Hope you like it!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

(Emily's POV)

When I woke up the next morning I had a killer headache, which was only made worse by the insistent ringing of my alarm clock. Rolling over, I quickly press the 'off' button, silencing the god awful noise. After lingering a few more minutes, I crawl out of bed and head into the bathroom to take a shower. Forty minutes later I emerge into the kitchen, showered and changed into a black pant suit. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I quickly pour myself a cup of coffee and head to the precinct. I skipped breakfast since I was running late again.

"Morning, Prentiss." Morgan greets me as I enter the squad room.

"Please don't yell, Derek." I mumble in response as I toss my bag on the floor in front of my desk and remove my sunglasses. I throw them down on the desk.

"Late night?" he jokes.

"You could say that." I grumble as I lower myself into my chair. "How the hell am I supposed to work today? You forced me to drink what, six tequila shots last night on top of what I was already drinking." I complain, rubbing my temple in hope of lessening the heading I still had. "I think I hate you." Derek just laughs.

"A little hungover?" he asks, leaning back in his chair. I glower at him.

"Yeah. How are you not? You drank more then me."

"Here, drink this." he thrusts a paper cup half full of some inconspicuous black liquid toward me. I raise my eye brow questioningly as I take the cup cautiously. I quickly down the fowl drink.

"God, what the hell is in that shit?" I demand tossing the empty cup in the trash. "Next time warn me before you poison me."

"You really don't want to know, trust me. Just give it ten minutes." Morgan assures.

"Okay, if you say so." I shrug. After Derek had introduced me to most of the other detectives, we fall into a blessed silence. God, my head was killing me.

"What are we doing today?" I finally break the silence a few minutes later.

"I've got one open case right now. We'll follow up on that unless we get a new one." he informs me handing me a copy of the case file.

"Thanks." I tell him as I begin to go over it. Five minutes later I put the file down.

"It was the boyfriend." I inform him as I slide the file back to him.

"I think so; I just can't prove it yet." he responds."How's the head?"

"Better, a lot better. You should market that shit, you'd make a fortune."

Before he can respond Gideon comes over to our desks.

"Morgan, Prentiss, you got a case." he says, handing Derek a case slip. Just as quickly as he appeared, he disappears.

"You ready for this?" Derek inquires.

"Yup, lets go." I reply, grabbing my badge and gun. He grabs his jacket from the back of his chair, and we head to the car.

"What do we have?" I question as soon as we pull into traffic and turn the siren on.

"Jane Doe, found shot in Johnson Memorial Park." he reads of the paper.

We pull up to the crime scene a few moments later, the M. E.'s van is parked off to the side and the scene is buzzing with crime scene techs photographing and collecting evidence. Derek holds up the crime scene tape as I duck under it; he follows suit. We go our separate ways, Derek goes to talk to the crime scene techs for an update while I approach the cloth covered body, where to my surprise Penelope is waiting.

"Emily!" she greets cheerfully.

"Pen, they sent you out?" I ask. She had been working at the M. E.'s office for almost a year now, and was considered new so she usually didn't get sent out on calls.

"I know, there were a lot of dead people today." she replies way to cheerfully for such a gloomy subject.

"So how was the rest of your guys' night?" she pry's, inquisitive,

"Ugh, don't go there. We'll talk later. What do you have?" I ask, kneeling next to the body. When she pulls the sheet back I feel the color slowly draining from my face. The victim looks to be between 15 and 18. Her long blonde hair was tangled with leaves, and her clothes were torn.

"Jane Doe, approximately 16, GSW to the chest." Garcia informs me, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Are you okay?" she whispers, having knelt down as well.

"I'm fine." I reply immediately.

"Are you sure? Cause..."

"Penelope," I warn as I stand up."I'm fine."

"She looks so young." Derek comments coming up behind me "any sign of sexual assault?" He turns his attention to Garcia. I wince at his statement, which unfortunately didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

"Yeah, I'll have a kit sent to the lab." she answers.

"What about T.O.D" I finally speak up.

"Looks like somewhere between 10 and 11:30 last night." she confirms.

Okay, thanks." Derek says, snapping his gloves off as one of the techs call his name. He stands up and walks over to them. Garcia covers the body up and two of her assistants lift the body on to a stretcher and take it to the van.

"So did anything happen between you two last night?" Garcia asks curiously with a cock of her head.

"No, nothing happened." I reply, still studying the crime scene.

"Okay." She nods her head in doubt as Derek comes back.

"They found her purse; I.D. was inside. Her name is Heather McGee, turned 15 two days ago." Derek informs us "You ready to go inform her parents?"

"Sure." I snap off my gloves and say goodbye to Penelope.

"Bye guys, good luck!" she calls to us as we turn back toward the car.

"Are you okay?" Derek asks as we get in the car. I stare straight ahead.

"Yeah, why?"

"You got really pale back there when you saw the body."

"That's not the first body I've seen." I inform him dryly as I turn back to him.

"Okay."

"I'm sorry." I apologize.

"I was 14." I whisper after a few minutes of silence. A single tear slips down my cheek. Derek reaches over and squeezes my hand in support as he continues driving.

"She was my best friend. We went to the mall to go Christmas shopping. We split up to get each others presents; we were supposed to meet up at our favorite store, but she never showed. I waited for three hours." I take a deep breath. "I was really worried, so I went looking everywhere I could think of, but I couldn't find her. I finally asked a security guard to help me. We found her an hour later in one of the bathrooms. She had been raped and stabbed to death. That girl today looked just like her. It was like seeing Melanie all over again." I draw silent, remembering.

"Did they get the guy?" Derek asks as we pull into the McGee's drive way seconds later.

"Yes and no." Derek arches a dark eyebrow in confusion.

"The cops could prove one of the janitors did it, but he was acquitted because of witness tampering or something like that." I explain.

"I'm sorry." he whispers. I square my shoulders.

"It's okay, that's the past. Let's go do this." I pull my hand out of his, instantly missing the contact, and exit the vehicle. Silently, we approach the front door and knock.

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads this! Please review, also a special thanks to LOTRRanger for helping me out!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

(Derek's POV)

"Yes?" A small blonde woman answers the door a few seconds later. Her fine blonde hair is pulled back into a sloppy ponytail, her face is void of make-up, her cheeks are tear stained and her eyes bloodshot. She had obviously been crying. I can smell a slight trace of whiskey on her breath. This was going to be harder than I thought. With a sideways glance at Emily, I nod my head silently asking her if she is ready. She nods her head 'yes' in response.

"Are you Mrs. Laura McGee?" I question her being as careful as I can with my tone of voice.

"Yes, what is this about?" She furrows her brow as she glances between Emily and I.

"Ma'am, I'm Detective Morgan, this is Detective Prentiss" I introduce us motioning between Emily and I. "We're with the Miami homicide division, could we please come in?"

"I need to see some identification first" she insists. Emily and I reach into our pockets and pull out our badges, showing them to her.

"Okay, come on in." She consents after studying our proffered badges carefully.

We slip them closed and back into our pockets as Mrs. McGee steps aside, allowing us entrance. My first observation is that the house is very tidy. She leads us down the hall. While her back is turned to us, I take advantage of the opportunity and link my pinky with Emily's. The gesture is small, but she smiles up at me and I return the smile quickly before breaking the contact as Mrs. McGee turns back to us.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" she offers politely. I can tell by the expression on her face she is a nervous wreck.

"No, thank you, Ma'am." Emily replies as we take a seat on the black Italian leather couch."Perhaps you should sit down." Emily suggests, pointing to the matching chair across from us. Mrs. McGee sits in the chair, folding her hands nervously in her lap.

"You said homicide, did something happen?" she asks hesitantly.

"Yes, ma'am." I reply calmly. "When is the last time you seen your daughter?" I begin questioning her, the sooner the better right?

"Call me Laura. Please." Mrs. McGee requests. "Heather and I had a disagreement last night. She left to go stay at her friend's house." She explains."Ever since Daniel deployed three months ago we haven't really been getting along. She didn't do whatever you think it is she did; she's a good kid, just a little mixed up right now." Her statement tells us that she obviously hadn't picked up on the fact that her daughter was dead. We were going to have to take a more direct approach.

"Laura, I'm sorry to have to inform you, but your daughter has been killed." I inform the woman quietly.

"Oh my god, n-no." Laura brings her hand up to her mouth in disbelief."H-how?" Her surprise was genuine.

"She was shot, but there's more" Emily begins. "We believe that she was sexually assaulted." I catch a quick glance at Emily, she was holding herself together pretty well; her face wore an expression of sympathy for the grieving woman. I sit back quietly and let her take the lead.

"No, this isn't possible, she went to Aimee's." Laura insists, bursting into tears. Emily gets up off the couch and hands the grieving woman a tissue. She takes her seat and waits patiently while the woman cries.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Emily begins gently as Laura's sobs subside a little. "Could you please answer some questions for us, help us find who did this." She requests. I can't help but marvel at how quickly Emily could go from being an emotional wreck herself to this compassionate woman beside me. Laura nods her head as she wipes away a few stray tears.

"Okay, whatever you need." Laura agrees weakly.

"Did Heather mention anything to you about being followed or any one giving her a hard time?" Emily asks gently.

"N- no, she might of s-said something to Aimee, though. Heather and I haven't really been getting along." Laura replies.

"Do you have Aimee's phone number and address? We're going to need to speak with her." Emily requests. She pulls out a pad of paper to write the information down and I hand her my pen. She offers a small smile in thanks as Mrs. McGee begins speaking.

"Yes, it's... ah... 760-555-3479."" she says after looking up the number in her cell phone. "Her address is 3216 E. Grant Dr. It's the green house".

"Thanks you. You said you and Heather had a disagreement; about when was that?" Emily continues, setting the paper down. Mentally, I note that Emily is doing very well for her first parental notification.

"About 9:30. Sh-she wanted to go to a college party, but I told her no. She started yelling at me saying her dad was better, that he would have let her go. I've been so stressed lately and I just snapped, I told... I told her if she didn't want to live here to just leave." Laura suppresses a sob at the memory. "She said she was going to Aimee's and stormed out of the house. Oh god. Why didn't I stop her?" Tears begin to roll down Laura's cheeks again.

"You couldn't have known. She's a teenager; they all act out like that, I know I did at that age." Emily tells her reassuringly. I murmur my agreement. A few more questions are asked, and a time line of the previous night is established. Finally, we decide that it is time for us to head over to the friends house.

"Can I see her, Heather?" Laura asks almost hesitantly. I glance at Emily, silently giving her permission to answer for me. Emily shifts her gaze back to the grieving mother.

"Yes. We'll need you to make a positive ID, just for legal purposes." Emily informs. "This is the address of the medical examiners office, just give me a call when you are ready to go down there. Detective Morgan and I will meet you there." She writes down the address on a piece of paper and hands it to Laura.

"O-okay; thank you." Laura takes the offered paper.

"Thanks for your time. If you think of anything, please give us a call. We're sorry for your loss." I conclude as the three of us stand up and walk back toward the front door.

"You did good in there." I compliment Emily as we walk to the car.

"You seem surprised." she smirks. " I don't know if I should be offended or not." she jokes, a smile covers her face.

"Well I... Okay maybe I was a little surprised; and it was a compliment."

"Well, thanks" Emily comments, slipping into the passenger seat as I hold the door open for her. I shut her door for her and quickly slip into my own seat as we drive off to Aimee's house.

Ten minutes later we head back to the station. Aimee's house had been a bust. No one had been home, so we had left a card in the door and a message to please call me. The ride was silent until Emily finally breaks the said silence.

"Derek, what is this thing we're doing? I mean, we barely know each other, but after last night, I'm so confused. I mean, isn't there a rule against this or something?" She asks.

Thinking carefully, I answer. "I don't know, Em." which is true for some reason I felt this strange pull to her that I hadn't felt toward any one before. Last night had been spontaneous. We hadn't slept together, but lets just say the cabdriver had definitely gotten an eyeful before he had interrupted us to let us know we had reached Emily's apartment. "There isn't a rule." I tell her before talking a large gamble. "How about we do this right, give us a shot. Have dinner with me, Emily." I suggest, looking over at her. She has a shocked look on her face. Obviously she hadn't expected me to ask her out.

"Derek, I don't know. I mean, we were drunk last night and, I mean, are you sure?" Emily falters.

"Of course I am. You're a beautiful, strong, smart, independent, and incredibly sexy woman. I would love nothing more than to take you out and get to know you better." I respond firmly, looking her straight in the eye.

"I... Sure, I'd love to!" Emily says, smiling at me. I felt my heart take wing upon hearing her exuberant response.

"How about Saturday night?" I suggest. "I'll pick you up at 7:30."

"Make it 8 and you got a deal." Emily smiles at me.

"Done." I return the smile as we pull into the precinct parking lot.

When we arrive back at the squad room, Jennifer Reid is waiting at Emily's desk. The press had caught wind of the case. This wasn't good. Now we has even more pressure to solve this case as fast as possible. Emily quickly assures Jen that she would give her a statement as soon as the investigation was finished. This seemed to satisfy her. The two women exchanged small talk for a few minutes before Jen left. Emily and I had been invited to Jen's house for a party she was throwing this weekend, for her brothers success of his latest book. I was told to invite Hotch and Dave.

The rest of the day goes by rather quickly. Heather's mom came and identified the body. Aimee had confirmed what we feared, that Heather never made it to her house, which meant she was taken right after she left home. Our new theory was that she had been the specific target of whoever had taken and killed her. We knew what murder weapon we were looking for, which was good. We suspected that this wasn't the first time this guy had done this, so we had the lab running the DNA sample against the known offenders database, as well as running the MO for possible matches. There was case that popped, a Jane Doe case from 6 months ago. The case had gone cold in a matter of day's because there was no victim ID, no suspects, and the DNA evidence had been ruined by rain. The DNA results wouldn't be back for another 12-16 hours so Emily and I finished our reports and headed out for the night. Hopefully we would have a match when the results came in. With that thought, I headed home to catch some ESPN and a cold beer. I found it hard to concentrate though; I kept thinking about Emily and the story she had told me. God, that must have been hell on a 14 year old. At midnight, I decide to call it a night. I fell a sleep thinking that tomorrow I would get to see Emily

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	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

(Emily's POV)

Derek and I got off pretty early due to the lack of breaks in the case. After we said our goodbyes, I sped home, making it there in record time. I throw my bag and coat down on the couch as I walk through the front door and walk down the hall to my bedroom and quickly change into a pair of cutoffs and a navy blue tank top. Once I had changed, I casually stroll into the kitchen and rummage through the fridge and cupboards for something to eat. It only takes a minute for me to realize there is absolutely nothing edible in my kitchen; the little food I did have was turning green.

Grabbing my cell phone, I sink into the couch and order some Chinese while I attempt to catch up with the hours of unwatched programing on my DVR. The food arrives and I turn on the latest episode of _House_, however, I'm not paying attention to it. Instead I find myself lost in thought. _Derek asked me out! God, I'm such a nerd. What if I say the wrong thing and he changes his mind? Oh my God, what am I going to wear! _This warrants a call to Jen and Penelope. I pick up my cell and dial Jen's phone number; luckily she picks up right away.

"Emily, what's up?" Jen greets cheerfully.

"Hey, Jen, are you busy? I need to talk." I quickly get to the point, anxiously twirling a loose stand of hair around my finger.

"Not really; Spence just left. I was just cleaning up. Why? Is something wrong?" Jen asks, concerned.

"No, yes, I don't know. No." I sigh.

"The only time you get like this is when it has to do with a guy." Jen declares. "Who is he and what happened? It's Derek, isn't it?" She begins interrogating me. I swear, this woman should have been a cop.

"Yes, but we need too get Penelope on the line; she will kill me if she finds out I told you and not her." I insist. A minute later Penelope joins the call.

"Jen, this had better be good. Unlike you, I have a boyfriend." Penelope growls. I can only imagine the look on her face right now.

"Oh, it is. Emily has a guy problem." Jen fires back.

"Really?" Penelope sounds excited. "Oh this is good! Emily, who's the guy?" Penelope doesn't even bother to hide the amusement in her voice.

"It's Derek." I reluctantly tell her; I know the 'I told you so' was coming.

"Ah, something did happen last night! I knew it!" Penelope concludes mischievously.

"Wait, what? What happened last night?" a confused Jen wants to know. Penelope quickly jumps in to explain to her what she was talking about before I have the chance.

"You were the first one to leave, so you weren't there. Basically, we left a drunk Emily and even drunker Derek alone at the bar last night. When we left, they were getting pretty close out on the dance floor. He had to take her home because she didn't have a ride, and from the way things were looking ..." She leaves the rest of our imaginations, I can only imagine the reels turning in their minds. I'm going to have to set them straight.

"Emily, why didn't you tell me earlier today?" Jen insists cheerfully. You'd think the two of them won the lottery of something, the way they were acting about the situation.

"First of all, why don't you let me tell you what really happened after you guys deserted me?" I begin with a little venom in my voice at that last part. I pace the floor as I continue "One, we weren't dancing that close. Two, my best friends deserted me so I had to catch a ride with Derek. He was too drunk to drive so we shared a cab home, to our separate homes. What was I supposed do, say 'hey, Jen, guess what? Derek and I went at it like two horny teenagers in the back of the cab last night.'" I let out a deep breath before continuing. "He was standing right there." I hear Penelope and Kevin laughing quietly at me. I'm slowly starting to regret making this call.

"Just how far did you guys get?" Jen wants to know. I sigh.

"Nothing x-rated. The cabbie interrupted us to let us know we were at my apartment." I explain. "It kinda killed the moment. Penelope Garcia, if you don't stop laughing at me, I'm going to drive over to you apartment and strangle you in your sleep." I threaten. The threat makes her stop laughing.

"Why didn't you invite him up?" Pen, asks

"Because I was drunk and hell I don't know; I just didn't." I tell her. "Are you guys going to help me or interrogate me?" I ask as I run a hand through my hair. I know Jen and Penelope mean well, but sometimes they get so annoying.

"Right, sorry. What do you need?" Jen asks kindly.

"He asked me to dinner." I explain quietly.

"And that's a problem why?" Penelope demands.

"Oh lets see, I have nothing to wear and I'll end up saying something stupid and nerdy and he'll bail. God, why did I say yes, I should have just said no. This... " I ramble on before Penelope stops me.

"Emily, stop" she demands.

"Right, what do I do guys?" I sigh, sinking back into the couch feeling slightly defeated.

"First of all, when is this date?" Penelope inquires thoughtfully.

"Saturday night." I confirm.

"Oh, okay, that's easy. Today is Wednesday. When do you get off work tomorrow?" Jen asks.

"I don't know; it depends on our case." I explain.

"Okay, don't worry about what to wear. I will go shopping and pick something out for you." Jen offers.

"Yeah, we're going to make you look hot." Penelope adds. "And just be yourself, Em. Now, take a deep breath and calm down." I do what she says; it helps a little. I decide that I need to change the subject. A few minutes later Penelope hangs up so its just me and Jen. We talk a few more minutes about the party before we hang up. With my nerves settled, I relax in front of the TV for about an hour before I decide to go to bed.

The next morning comes quickly. When I arrive at work, Derek was waiting for me. He was perched up against the file cabinet thumbing through a file. He bites his lip as he concentrates on the file he is reading. He looks really good in his simple black suit. He had removed his jacket. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to just below his elbows, showing off his muscular forearms. I force my self to concentrate on something else as I sit down.

"Did the DNA results come in yet?" I ask, inquisitive, pointing toward the file in his hand.

"Not yet. They should be in in about an hour." He looks up at me. Walking over to his desk, he sets the file down and hands me a cup of Starbucks coffee.

"Thanks!" I smile up at him accepting the coffee.

"Your welcome." Derek smiles, taking a sip of his own coffee.

"What was in that file?"

"A lab report from our other case. I finally got the proof I need to put the boyfriend behind bars." he brags smugly.

"That's good; lets go pick him up." I suggest.

"Okay." We start putting our jackets back on and grabbing our weapons. Gideon stops us when we turn to go to the elevator.

"Morgan, Prentiss, where are you guys going?" He hollers from across the room.

"To pick up Greg Johnston." Derek turns to the chief. "Why?"

"Change of plans. I'll Send Jones and Greene to pick him up. Another girl was found in Johnson Memorial Park. Same MO as the last one."

"Okay, we're on our way there." Derek answers as he looks at me. Even though I feel nauseous, I give him a reassuring smile. Why did this have to be my first case? It was already screwing with my head. I had barely fallen asleep last night before the dreams that had stayed away for almost nine years had returned. As a result, I had been up almost all night. I refused to let anyone know any of this though. I just wanted this case to be over.

We arrived at the new crime scene just as the medical examiner was pulling in. This time however they didn't send out Penelope. Instead, they sent Dr. Bale. He told us the exact same thing Penelope had. The crime scene techs came and went. The latest victim's name was Stacey Anderson, she was 16 and lived with her older sister. The notification went pretty smooth. The sister said she had last seen Stacey the night before, that Stacey had been headed to the library and never returned home. While we were there, I got a text from Penelope letting me know that the DNA results were in, so we escorted Stacey's sister to the M. E's office to make the identification. Once that was done, an officer took her home and Derek and I met up with Penelope.

"The DNA results are in?" Derek asks her.

"Over here." She sets her scalpel down and leads us over to the computer as she removes her gloves. Derek's phone rings and he turns his back to us to answer it. When he does, Penelope smirks at me raising an eyebrow suggestively. 'Don't start' I mouth to her. She just shakes her head. A few seconds later Derek returns.

"What do we got?" Derek questions her, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

"We have a DNA match." Penelope confirms, pointing at the computer screen."I ran the DNA through every database I could and got a match to Micheal Bennett. He's 35, a doctor at Mercy Hospital." She explains. A few clicks later, his picture shows up on the screen. Bennett is a handsome guy, emerald green eyes and short brown hair.

"Should we pick him up now?" I turn to Derek.

"First we need to make a few calls. We don't want to pick him up at work; there will be too many civilians around. If he panics, we don't want anyone getting hurt. Plus we need to check for an alibi."

He replies.

"Right. Lets call the hospital, see if he was there when the girls were killed." I suggest. "Penelope, we'll see you later." I call to her. I pick up the printed copy of her report and we turn to head back to the station.

"Bye, good luck!" she calls back.

When we get back to the precinct, we swiftly get to work looking up as much background on Bennett as we can. After establishing that he had no alibi for the time of the murders and that he wasn't at work, we decide to go pick him up. The ride to his house is made in silence. Both of us are nervous yet excited. Glancing at Morgan, I see his jaw is tensed and he is staring straight forward.

"How do we want to do this?" I ask as we approach our intended destination.

"We're going to go in calmly like a routine interview, but be on alert just in case. I don't think that anything will happen since there are small children in the house." He replies as we pull into the driveway. We get out of the car and approach the house silently. Adrenaline swims through my veins.

I reach up and knock on the door twice. Bennett opens the door a few seconds later.

"Micheal Bennett, I'm Detective Prentiss, this is Detective Morgan. We'd like to ask you a few questions." I show him my badge and Derek does the same thing.

"Of course, come on in." Bennett offers a charming smile as he holds the door open and gestures us inside.

"Sir, is there anyone else in the house?" Derek requests after the three of us sit down. Bennett looks confused.

"No, it's just me; my wife took the kids to the store. Can I ask what this is about?" Bennett answers.

"We're investigating the deaths of Heather McGee and Stacey Anderson." I inform him. "Have you ever had any contact with the victims?"

"No, I don't know them." he insists. The look on his face when I mentioned the two dead girls, however, gives him away.

"Can you tell us where you were between the hours of ten and two the last two nights?" I request.

"I was home; you can ask my wife." he replies, visibly becoming agitated. Derek instinctively places his hand on his hip next to his gun.

"Sir, your DNA was found on the victims. Can you explain that?" I continue questioning Bennett. At my announcement, his eyes go wide. He stands up and begins pacing the room, saying 'no' over and over again.

I glance over at Derek at his actions. Derek nods his head toward my gun telling me to be prepared just in case. I have a feeling this was going to turn bad. As Bennett pulls something out of a drawer we place our hands on our guns. Bennett turns around holding a gun. He looks at it taking a moment to consider whether he wants to shoot himself or one of us. Derek and I draw our guns.

"Put the gun down, Bennett." Derek demands, at this point we are both standing, our guns pointed at Bennett.

"I'm not going to jail." Bennett declares confidently.

"Put the gun down and lets talk about this calmly." I try to negotiate with him.

"I can't." His hand shakes as he raises the gun at us.

"One more time, Bennett, put the gun down." Derek demands again. This time Bennett removes the safety off of the gun and fires at us. Luckily he is a bad shot and the bullet misses both of us by a good ten inches.

Derek and I both fire at him and he falls to the ground, two bullets to the chest a few inches apart. Derek hands me his gun and I call the shooting in while he kicks Bennett's gun away from his motionless body and checks for a pulse. Derek shakes his head 'no' letting me know that Bennett is dead and walks back over to where I was standing.

"Suicide by cop." I state as we wait for the ME and Gideon to show up.

"Yup, and we'll never know why he did it." Derek shakes his head.

Three hours later, the medical examiner had taken the body back to the morgue and the crime scene had been cleared. After we had give our statements, Gideon informed us that the shooting was cleared, and we left to go file our reports. We arrive back at the precinct to find a swarm of reporters waiting for us; Gideon sends them home. I pull Gideon aside and inform him that I had promised Jen a statement. He okays it and I find her and give her a brief statement. Derek and I finish our reports about three hours later and hand them to Gideon. By that time it was almost four and he orders us to go home. We grab our stuff and head to our cars.

"You doing okay?" Derek asks me as we walk out of the building.

"Surprisingly, yes. I guess part of me expected Melanie's killer to be behind this and I was going to face it all again. I'm just glad it's over." I answer. "What about you?"

"I'm good, just wish I knew why that bastard did it."

"Yeah me too." I agree. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Emily." He replies as we turn and go our separate ways.

"Hey, Derek." I call to his retreating back, he stops and turns around."You wanna go to Jen's party with me tomorrow night?" I request. He considers for a moment.

"Sure, sounds great." he accepts.

"Okay, see you tomorrow." I tell him and slip into my Jeep with a smile on my face. Maybe this weekend won't be so bad, I tell my self as I pull into traffic. I get to spend two days with Derek. Can't get much better then that, but please God don't let me do or say some thing stupid. On my way home I call Jen and let her know I was on my way home. I was anxious to see what her and Penelope had picked out for me.

**Reviews plz...**


	7. Chapter 7

**hey I'm back! it took me a little while to get my mojo back but i finally did. here is the latest chapter i want to think my lovely beta! now to the serious stuff after the lack of repose i got last chapter i was a little bummed so if you readers have any suggestions let me know and i will see what i can do also i am hoping for at least 5 reviews even if it's just a few words it is greatly appreciated. it also lets me know that some one is actually reading this. ... Okay I'll shut up now and let you get to the good stuff ENJOY!**

Chapter Six

(Derek's POV)

When I arrive home, the first thing I do is grab a beer and call Aaron, seeing as it was Thursday night. Every other Thursday was our poker night, although sometimes we ended up just watching whatever game was on come football season. Aaron picks up the phone on the second ring.

"Hello," Aaron answers cheerfully. I hear Jack in the background laughing.

"DA-da, no!" Jack says breathlessly. Somewhere in the distance, Haley tells Aaron to stop tickling his son.

"Hey, Hotch, we still on for tonight?" I try to hide my amusement as I flip channels on my TV.

"Definitely; we're meeting at Dave's in an hour." Hotch must have walked out of the room he was in because Haley and Jack's voices became more muffled until finally I don't hear them at all. "I heard Bennett came at you guys this afternoon; are you and Emily okay? It's her first case, isn't it." Aaron asks, his voice all business.

"Yeah, we're okay. Emily was amazing. She kept her cool. We're glad this case is over." I assure him, the TV having been forgotten at the serious turn of the conversation. "When we finally left the scene Greene and Jones were searching the house. Hopefully, they find something concrete and we can close this case officially. I'll know more when I go into work tomorrow. " I was tempted to let him know about Emily's friend and how similar that case was to this one, but that was her story to tell so I left that part out.

"I'm confident they will. Jones and Greene may be jerks, but they're good cops." Aaron replied.

"Yeah, they are." I confirm. "On a more positive note, are you ready to be cleaned out?"

"In you dreams, Morgan." Aaron replies. I can only imagine the smirk on his face. Since we started our poker night about two years ago, Dave and I had only beat Aaron a handful of times each.

"I'm going to let you go and get changed so you can clean me out." I tell Aaron. "Give Haley and Jack my love."

"Will do. See you later, Derek." Aaron says and I hang up the phone.

Twenty minutes later, I had changed out of my suit and into a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt. I was due at Dave's in about half an hour so I decided to leave early and grab a case of beer on my way. Traffic was pretty mild, so I made it to the liquor store in a matter of minutes shortly after. With a newly acquired case of Bud Light, I make my way to Dave's, singing along with the radio as I do.

_Her eyes, her eyes  
make the stars look like they're not shining  
Her hair, her hair  
falls perfectly without her trying  
She's so beautiful  
And I tell her everyday  
__I know, I know  
When I compliment her she won't believe me  
And it's so, it's so  
Sad to think that she don't see what I see  
But every time she asks me "Do I look okay?"  
I say  
When I see your face  
There's not a thing that I would change  
'Cause you're amazing  
Just the way you are  
And when you smile  
The whole world stops and stares for a while  
'Cause girl you're amazing  
Just the way you are _

_Her lips, her lips  
I could kiss them all day if she let me_

_Her laugh, her laugh  
she hates but I think it's so sexy  
She's so beautiful  
And I tell her everyday  
Oh you know, you know, you know  
I'd never ask you to change  
If perfects what you're searching for  
Then just stay the same  
So don't even bother asking if you look okay  
'Cause you know I'll say  
When I see your face  
There's not a thing that I would change  
'Cause you're amazing  
Just the way you are_

…...

I shut off the radio as I pull into Dave's drive way. Seeing as he was a lawyer and made good money, Dave pretty much lived in a mansion. He was always saying he didn't need the space but it made a good impression on the ladies. After parking my car, I reach into the back seat and grab the beer before making my way to the door. I let myself in, knowing they would leave the door unlocked.

"Guys, I'm here." I holler unnecessarily as I walk back into the den. Dave and Arron are already there smoking cigars. The poker table was already set up, and they sat chatting with cold beers in their hands.

"Derek, my man, how's it going?" Dave greets me cheerfully after removing the cigar from his mouth.

"I got no complaints, man." I smile, taking a seat in my usual chair. Hotch offers me a cigar, but I shake my head, declining.

"She's that good, huh?" Dave smirks. Hotch looks at me curiously. Obviously, he wasn't going to be any help here. I raise my eyebrow at Aaron silently asking what Dave is talking about.

"your smiling." Dave clarifies. "she must be good.

"I wouldn't know, Dave. Unlike you, some of us wait till after the first date." I retort, knowing exactly what he had meant by that comment.

"He's got a point." Aaron backs me up. I had hoped this would be the end of that conversation, but I was wrong.

"Date?" Dave inquires mischievously. "I never said any thing about that. I meant at work; you know, as you partner. You are the one with his mind in the gutter." He corrects me. "What happened that brought that thought on?"

Oh shit. Why did I have to open my big mouth? I curse myself. "Nothing happened." I lie. "Are we gonna play some damn cards or not?" I ask a little to defensively. Aaron starts dealing the cards with his head down in a failed attempt to hide his silent laughter. Inwardly, I groan and try to think of a way out of this.

"You call Jen yet?" I attempt to change the subject. At my question, Aaron snaps his head up in curiosity.

"Not yet. You got to remember the three day rule. Got to wait three days, see if she's still interested. Besides, I'm gonna see her tomorrow at the party." Dave answers, confidence shining through in his voice. The three of us going through the motions of the poker game as we talk. "Now back to the subject, what happened between you and Emily last night?" he continues as I fold my hand; I didn't have a shot of winning this one.

"Nothing." I lie yet again with a slight shrug of my shoulder.

"Right. That's why your forehead is sweating." Aaron interjects collecting his winnings. I instinctively wipe the back of my hand over my forehead. "We're lawyers man you can't lie to us and get away with it. You might as well spill or he won't leave you alone." I know he's right, so with a deep sigh I deal the cards and begin telling them what had happened.

"After you guys left, we did a bunch of shots, danced a little more, then we split a cab." I pause for a moment to place my bet before continuing. "We were in the back of the cab laughing about something, I'm really not sure, then I just leaned over and kissed her. Next thing I know, the cab driver was interrupting us to let us know we were at her apartment. It was crazy; now I can't get her out of my head." I confess. At my last statement the smirk falls off of both Aaron and Dave's faces.

"Dude, you got it bad." Aaron states.

"Yup." Dave agrees.

"I don't know man." I reply. "Can we please change the subject now" I request.

"She a good detective?" Hotch asks.

"Yeah she is. Handled the identification like a pro. I was impressed. I think we'll work well together." I reply.

"Work's not the only thing he wants to do with her." Dave comments with a smirk on his face.

"Dave," I warn him with a look.

"So was it awkward working with her this morning?" Aaron interjects curiously.

"No," I continue, telling them about how the rest of the day went, including the situation with Bennett, and even me asking her to dinner. The conversation later turns to Aaron's latest case, the football match ups for this weekend, our families and the surprise of finding out that Jen's brother was a famous novelist until we finally call it a night around one am. No surprise that Aaron had cleaned us out, as usual. Personally, I thought he may have a few secrets up his sleeve. I go to bed that night, thoughts of Emily on my mind.

The next morning, I wake up with a smile. Today was Friday, and I had a party to go to with Emily tonight. The day only gets better when I am greeted by Emily, who was getting out of her car at the same time I was. She's wearing a pair of black pants and a red t-shirt that fit her just right. I try not to stare as she hands me a cup of coffee. We turn to walk into the building.

"What's this?" I turn to her.

"Coffee, two creams one sugar." She smiles " I couldn't drink that crap they call coffee in there another day. Figured I'd pick you up one too." she explains with a shrug.

"You've only been here a few days and your already tired of the coffee." I smirk "It's gonna be a long ride for you. By the way, how did you know how I like my coffee?"

"I'm a detective. I saw you make a cup the other day." Emily takes a drink of her own coffee before we both set our bags down and sit in our chairs. I take a sip of mine and let out a content sigh. "This is so much better."

"Told you." she states smugly. "Gideon looks happy." Emily points to his office an hour later. I turn my head. He's in his office shaking hands with some guy in a suit with his back turned toward us. "Wonder what that's about?" I ask as I turn my attention back to my work.

"The mayor congratulating him on the swift work of his detectives in capturing the latest serial killer." Jones answers, coming up behind me.

"So we got him then? It's official?" Emily pops her head up from the report she has been reading.

"Yeah, we found the murder weapon hidden in an air vent and bloody clothes in the laundry hamper. The lab rushed the DNA results, came back a match to both victims. Case closed." Detective Greene informs us.

"Detectives Morgan and Prentiss," Chief Gideon calls to us, calling our attention, "As you probably know, this is Mayor Hilton He's got something he'd like to say to you." He continues, motioning toward the man beside him. Both Emily and I stand up from our sitting positions and greet them.

"Sir, it's a pleasure to meet you." Emily says cheerfully, shaking his offered hand.

"It's an honor, Sir." I shake his had as well.

"The pleasure is all mine." Mayor Hilton replies. He is a fairly tall man about 6 foot one. "I wanted to thank you on behalf of the city of Miami for the brave actions you both exhibited in take-down of Michael Bennett." he finishes.

"Thank you, Sir." We both respond.

A few minutes later, after a brief conversation, the squad room empties and detectives continue to go back and forth. Emily and I were given the day to catch up on paper work. Time passes slowly as we fill out form after form, carrying on small conversations here and there. Finally, around 3:30, all of our paper work is finished the I's dotted and T's crossed. Once Gideon signed off on the reports, giving them his approval, he sends us home. After thanking him, we grab our stuff and walk to the parking garage side by side.

"So, what time do you want to meet up for the party?" Emily asks casually, running her fingers through her hair.

"Starts at 7, so how about I pick you up around 6:45?" I suggest, digging my car keys out of my pocket. We come to a stop in front of my black Dodge Charger.

"Sounds good. I'll text you the address once I get home." Emily smiles. I cant help but smile back, it's so contagious.

"Sounds good. I'll see you in a couple hours." I slip into the drivers seat and she turns and walks the four parking spaces to her own car. I watch her the whole way, admiring the swing of her hips as she goes. I smile the whole way home thinking that I'd get to spend the evening with Emily and my new and old friends.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

(Emily)

After a quick shower, I towel dry my hair and wrap the towel around me before proceeding into my walk-in closet to pick out something to wear. Normally, if I was going to Jen's I wouldn't worry, but this was different; Derek was going to be there. Finally, after much deliberation, I decide on a pair of jean shorts and black spaghetti strap tank top with pink hearts on it. Even though it was mid-October, we were in Miami and it was still really warm, so I could get away with it. Now that I had decided what to wear, I just had to figure out what to do with my hair. I'm getting ready to head back into the bathroom when my phone rings. I quickly lunge to grab it off the bedside table, managing to stub my toe in the process. I answer the phone as I sit on the bed and bring my foot up to rest on my knee inspecting it for injury.

"Hello?" I mumble into the receiver.

"Emily!" Spencer's voice comes over the line. "Are you coming tonight?" he inquires. Spence and I were good friends, not as good of friends as me and Jen though. I guess it came from Jen's parents forcing us to let him tag along with us when we were in high school. He just kinda grew on us and, eventually, I began confiding in him as we got older.

"Of course, Spence. I wouldn't miss it for anything!" I reply laying back on my bed satisfied that I hadn't broken my toe.

"Great! Are you gonna bring your boyfriend?" I can only imagine the smile on his face at that comment.

"I don't have a boyfriend; what has your sister been telling you?" I laugh, no doubt in my mind that this has something to do with Derek.

Nothing, I was just guessing." he says sheepishly I can imagine he is biting his lip like he always does when he gets caught doing something.

"Spencer Reid, do not play games with me." I warn him in a voice I would normally reserve for a criminal. I know it would intimidate him.

"I, uh, she told me about your boyfriend's hot friend. I asked what she was talking about and she told me about you guys running into your partner and his friends at the club and you and what was his name in the cab and..."

"She what? God, I'm gonna kill her!" I interrupt him mid sentence mentally planing the perfect murder. If she blabbed this to any one else, like I don't know, her mother then my mom would find out and all I would hear about is how she wanted a wedding and grand babies.

"Emily, you know what the odds of male and female cops that are partnered up having a successful relationship are?" he starts off on what I knew would turn into one of his rants if I didn't stop him.

"Spence, stop. I don't want to know." I beg.

"Right. Sorry. What's his name any way?"

"Derek Morgan, you'll meet him tonight."

"Sounds good. Listen I better let you go. Jen just burnt something and she looks like she's about to have a cow." Spence laughs as he informs me.

"Okay. I need to get ready anyway. Tell Jen I'm going to kill her when I get there." I reply gratefully. I really needed to get off the phone and do something with my hair. It was already 6:25. I had stopped by the store on my way home to pick up a gift for Spence since his 20th birthday was a week away, and a copy of his book to send to my mother.

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." After hanging up the phone I throw it back onto the bed and enter the bathroom. I wouldn't have time to straighten my hair so I pull the top half back into a pony tail. I slip my shoes on and pick up the house a little. Derek would be here any minute and I didn't want to make a bad impression.

(Derek)

I head straight home after Emily and I go our separate ways, arriving at ten minutes to four. When I walk in the door, I am greeted enthusiastically by my dog Clooney. After giving him a quick pet on the head, I remove my jacket, throw it over the back of the couch and walk the short distance to the kitchen, Clooney following close behind. I fill his food and water dishes before making myself a sandwich and settling on the couch to watch Sports Center. When 5:45 rolls around, I pick myself up off of the couch and take a shower. The hot water is refreshing as it washes off the days grime. Afterward, I change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. At 6:30 I head out the door.

The drive to Emily's seems to take forever. My nerves are starting to get the best of me. Finally, I pull up outside her house. A glance at the clock tells me the drive only took me about took about 10 minutes, so I arrive 5 minutes early and walk up to her door. I wipe my sweaty palms off on my pants before ringing the doorbell. The door swings open moments later. Emily appears in the door way a second later looking beautiful as she always does. This time she has on a pair of dark denim shorts that show off her amazingly long legs and a black and pink tank top.

"Hey, stranger!" I offer my most charming smile, which is returned by hers.

"Hey, Derek, come on in. I'm almost ready." she says stepping back from the door. I walk past her into the spacious living room.

"The kitchen is right through there." She points to a hallway. "Help your self if you need anything. I will be right down in a few minutes." Emily spits out hurriedly before disappearing down another hall. I laugh to myself as her retreating back disappears. I stand there for a minute before I finally venture into the living room.

"Nice." I find myself admiring her 60 inch flat screen Sony Bravia. A book case in the corner of the room catches my eye and I walk closer to investigate. The shelf is full of James Patterson novels and, no, it couldn't be every Kurt Vonnegut novel ever written. I subconsciously find my self skimming the titles before picking out a rather worn out copy of mother night. As I begin turning pages I here her walk up behind me.

"You are who you pretend to be..." she begins.

"So be careful who you pretend to be." I finish with a grin.

" I can't believe you know Kurt Vonnegut." Emily begins with a smile.

" I love him! I read Slaughter House Five when I was 12 and couldn't get enough." I explain.

"Me too." she smiles, "Ready to go?"

"Let's go!" I reply in response.

I put the book down, and we walk out to my car. Once the car is started, Emily gives me directions and we spend the fifteen minuter car ride talking about Vonnegut and work stuff until we pull into Jen's drive way.

"Looks like Aaron and Dave are here." I comment noticing their vehicles

.

"Penelope's here too, and, oh God Jen's mom, we're the last ones here" she replies with a hint of something akin to desperation, despair, and resignation.

(Emily)

Oh God, I tell myself. Dianna. I going to tell my mom that I was seeing someone, and now my mom wasn't going to leave me alone about not telling her first. I mentally panic as I get out of the car. As if he senses my worry, Derek takes my hand in his as we walk to the door. I flash him a smile, which he returns, before knocking on the door. Jen opens it a moment later and invites us in. After we say our hello's she informs us that every one else is outside on the patio. She hands us both a drink and leads us outside. Aaron, Haley, Spence, Penelope, Kevin, Dianna, and Dave, who is staring intently at Jen, are sitting in a sort of half circle deep in conversation. When Jen announces our presence, I am immediately enveloped in a hug by Dianna Reid. I let got of Derek's hand and hug her back for a second before she pulls away looking me up and down.

"Emily dear, it's so good to see you. you look great, the new job must be treating you well. And who, may I ask, is this young man?" she points to Derek.

"It's great to see you too. Dianna, this is Derek Morgan. Derek, Dianna Reid." I introduce.

"It's nice to meet you, Ma'am," Derek offers her a charming smile, which definitely wins her over, judging by the smile on her face. After she turns her attention to Derek, Spence approaches me and gives me a hug.

"Spence, how are you? God, I haven't seen you in like a year." I say breaking the hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I see everybody, minus Dianna, had taken a seat, Penelope and Kevin sat by Aaron and Haley. And the two couples were talking amongst themselves. Jen sat by Dave and Derek as next to her with two empty chairs to his left. The three of them were laughing at something.

"I know you look great." he says as we walk over to sit down.

"You too!" I reply as I take the seat next to Derek, and Spence takes the one next to me. I introduce the two, and after the whole group properly introduced Dianna congratulates her son and says her good byes, leaving nine of us.

"Why did your mom leave so early?" I turn to Spencer half an hour later, at this point beers were being passed around and laughter filled the air. Everybody was getting along great, as if we all had known each other forever.

"She has to work at eight." he informs me. I nod in understanding.

"Oh, how is school, and New York? I ask.

"It's great! Cold, but great. I graduate in May." Spence smiles as he replies.

"Do you have a girlfriend up there?" the group goes quiet at my comment and all eyes are on him expectantly.

"I, u,h" Spence gulps nervously. "Well, there's a possibility. I just haven't asked her out."

"Boy genius is intimidated by a girl." Derek teases with a crooked grin.

"No," Spencer insists, his face turning redder by the second. Everyone laughs at his reaction. After that, we somehow find ourselves telling embarrassing stories from our high school days.

"Senior year, Mick Rawson." Jen begins, but pauses to take a drink out of her beer. I groan, knowing what's coming. I sneak a glance at Spence since they were the only two who knew this story. He has a wide grin on his face and I can tell he is trying to hold in his laughter.

"Jen, don't do it." I plead, knowing it was pointless; if she didn't say it, Spencer would. Derek looks at me one dark eyebrow raised in question; I just shake my head. Why did they have to tell this story with Derek, Dave and Aaron here? Now I really was going to kill her.

"Be quiet, Emily, I'm telling a story." she states smugly. Much to my dismay, she has the attention of the whole group. I stick my tongue out at her and then proceed to down the rest of my beer and mentally prepare myself for the embarrassment that I know is going to come.

"Mick was a British foreign exchange student." Jen begins. "He had the whole sexy accent, and oversized ego thing going for him. He was a trouble maker, always breaking the rules, skipping class. Basically, the opposite of Emily. Somehow he managed to get her to agree to go out with him; she mainly did it to piss her mom off. She did a lot of things to piss her mom off." Jen pauses.

"Jen, just get to the point and get it over with." I interrupt.

"Ssh, I'm getting there." she replies, absentmindedly waving her hand in my direction before continuing. "So anyway, Mick and Emily had been dating for about a month and Mick convinced her to skip school and go paint balling with him. She asked me to cover for her and, of course, being her best friend I agreed. They left right before the first bell rang and returned right before the last class of the day. I met up with them as I was leaving my class and they were a mess you know paint in their hair things like that, and everyone behind them was staring and taking pictures of them. I didn't say anything cause I figured it was because of their appearance. We went our separate ways and I didn't see her the rest of the day. She went to her last class and she rushed home to shower before her mom got back. The next day when we got to school, there were pictures of her posted all over the walls she had a giant red spot on the back of her pants, and people came up to her all day making jokes about getting her period and offering her tampons. God, it was the funniest thing! Her face was bright red and, if I remember right, she broke up with Mick that day; said he ruined her senior year." Jen finishes. When she does, my head is buried in my hands in embarrassment. I really don't see why this is so funny. The whole group is laughing.

"Thanks, Jen " I mumble sarcastically into my hands. Derek rubs my back in support, and as the group settles down he starts telling his own story, which has the group laughing again. An hour later; after giving Spence his gifts, we're just finishing eating when Spencer speaks up.

"You know, Emily, I think I saw a copy of that picture in the attic with a box of Jen's stuff from high school." Spence declares excitedly.

"Really!" Dave smirks, "Go get it." Spencer starts to get up at his comment and I immediately try to put a stop to it.

"Spencer Michael Reid, if so much as get out of that chair, I will let everyone know how you lost your virginity." I threaten him and he sits right back down with a giant gulp, obviously scared into submission.

"Spence, my boy, she's got you whipped." Derek exclaims from beside me, generating a laugh out of everyone.

I excuse myself and take my plate into the kitchen while the two banter back and forth. As I I'm putting my plate in the dish in the dishwasher, I hear someone come up behind me. I smile when I see that it's Derek. He comes up and stands up beside me a smile on his face. I turn so that my left hip is resting against the counter and I'm looking into his eyes.

"Its' nice to get you alone." he says placing his hand on my right hip, pulling me a little closer and placing a kiss on my lips.

"I've been wanting to do that since you opened your door tonight." Derek whispers, tucking a piece of loose hair behind my ear.

"Mmm, me too." I murmur. "Are you doing alright, not to bored?" I query, bringing my hand up to cup his cheek.

"No, this is fun." he offers me a reassuring smile.

"Good." I reach up and kiss him. This time we don't pull away, he pulls me against him and deepens the kiss. The room seems to disappear as our tongues battle for control of the kiss. Finally, I give in and I wrap my arms around his neck, bringing us closer together. The sound of someone clearing their throat behind us makes us pull apart for the second time this week. We turn, both a little breathless, to see Penelope and Jen in the doorway. Jen is standing impatiently and Penelope's mouth is hanging open both are holding stacks of dishes.

"Sorry." I shrug as Derek and I move out of their way and out to the patio.

"You might want to close that mouth; you 're gonna catch flies, baby girl." Derek says to Penelope, but without spite, as we leave the room.

We take our chairs and catch up on the conversation we missed, all the while holding hands. Neither Jen or Penelope mentions what they saw when they come outside. They just resort to giving us curious looks, and I know my phone will be ringing later that night. Finally, as 10:45 approaches, we all head to our separate ways. The evening was a success; everybody got along like old friends and Jen and Dave had set a date for early the next week.

Derek drives me home and, after a kiss goodbye, he heads to his own home. We go to bed with the promise of seeing each other the next day fresh on our minds.

**A/N: sorry for the long delay on this story I promise I didn't forget about it. anyway a minimum of 5 reviews before the next chapter plz!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

(Derek)

I wake up at 6:30 the next morning, as usual, and change into shorts, a t-shirt and running shoes for my morning run. The sun is just coming out and it's a pleasant 60 degrees, a perfect day by anyone's standards. After locking the door behind me, I head out on my usual route. The 5 mile run usually took me no longer that half an hour. Some days if I was feeling up to it or if I just needed to think, I would stretch it out to 7 or 8 miles; today was one of those days.

Last night had been a blast. Spencer Reid was an interesting character. Not the type I usually hang with. He was a genius, a little socially awkward perhaps, but we seemed to get along really well. Honestly, it was fun to tease him. I could see why Emily liked him. Him and Jen were so different, though, if you didn't know it you wouldn't guess they were related. Really though, our whole group was kind of dynamic each in their own way. The group setting was fun, but what I really want is to spend some time with Emily alone outside of the workplace. Luckily, tonight was our dinner date. At first I had been nervous about it, but the nerves had gone away and now I couldn't wait. I had made a reservation at Escpazzo for 8 o'clock. It's one of the nicer places here in Miami. I just hope she likes it.

My body starts to tire as I approach the little coffee shop about 4 ½ miles from my house, so I decide to go in and grab a cup of coffee, give my tired legs a short break before heading back. This was my regular stop every morning on the way to work so I knew that they have the best coffee in all of Miami. The place was unusually quiet today, must be because it was 7 on a Saturday morning I tell myself.

"Detective Morgan, what brings you here on a Saturday?" Betty the owner of the shop greets me as I approach the counter to place my order.

"I went for a run and ended up in the neighborhood." I flash her a charming smile, which she returns full force. "You know I cant resist your coffee. Can I get the regular?"

"Sure thing, sweetie." Betty turns to the counter behind her and begins preparing my coffee. "I'm gonna make a fresh pot just for you. Why don't you tell me what's on your mind while we wait?" she suggests as she turns back to face me.

"First date tonight." I explain as I smile excitedly.

"Oh, really? Who's the lucky girl and where are you taking her?" Betty claps her hands together excitedly . I take a seat on one of the bar stools before answering her question.

"You remember that girl from the club, my new partner?' I probe gently.

"Emily, of course, but only because of the smile you had on your face when you talked about her." Betty teases. I chuckle.

"Right, well it's her. I'm taking her to Escapazzo." I reply.

"Wow." she exclaims, clearly shocked. "You must really like her."

"You don't think it's too much?" I ask, slightly worried.

"Of course not, dear." Betty begins as she turns to tend to the coffee that just finished brewing. "Twenty five years ago, my late husband Jerry took me there on our first date. We were together up until he was killed." she explains. At the mention of Jerry, I frown a little. Her husband Jerry had been a police officer with the MPD for 27 years until he was killed in a stand off last year, which was perhaps the reason she had taken such a liking to me.

"Here you go, hon." She hand the cup of steaming hot coffee to me. I set the cup down and reach into my pocket to pay but she shakes her head 'no'.

"Don't worry about that; it's on the house. You go have a great time tonight." Betty tells me.

"Thank you, but from now on, I pay." I respond and gently kiss her on the cheek. We exchange goodbyes and I turn around and head home.

I shower and change into some casual clothes when I get home. The rest of the day is spent cleaning up my apartment and watching a little bit of TV until finally 6:30 rolls around. I get dressed for dinner, giving me plenty of time to stop by one of the local florists before picking up Emily.

I'm wearing a black suit tonight; I opted to go without a tie and left the top button undone. A little Usher VIP and I'm ready to go. I fill Clooney's food and water dishes, grab my wallet and car keys and I'm out the door.

(Emily)

_And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.  
No-one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.  
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied.  
That leaves only me to blame 'cos Mama tried. _

I wake up the next morning at 7:30 to the sound of my phone ringing; judging by the ring tone, it's my mother and I know what she has to say. Maybe if I just let it ring she'll get the point and go a way. At least, that is what I tell myself as I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. No such luck. I sigh as it begins ringing again only seconds after it stopped. I reluctantly pick it up to answer, knowing if I don't, she will just keep calling. It's not that I don't love my mom, I do, dearly, I just don't need her to lay the guilt trip of having found out about Derek from someone else on me this early in the morning. Exhaling, I push the answer button.

"Good morning, Mom." I say tonelessly, stretching.

"Emily dear, how are you this morning?" she asks.

"I'm doing good, Mom, how are you?" I reply politely with a yawn.

"I'm doing well. Please tell me you changed that god awful ring tone." It was the closest my dear mother would come to begging.

"Not yet; sorry." I laugh. We go through this every time she calls me. Personally, I didn't care for country music but it was too fun to annoy her with the song. Plus it reminded me of my rebellious years as a teen.

"Honey, there's something I need to ask you." she gets right to the point, dissatisfied with my answer.

"Diana called, right?" I guess. I try not to laugh at her shocked intake of breath. Did she really think she wasn't that transparent?

"Y..yes." she stutters in response. "Why didn't you tell me you were dating someone?" Her voice had taken on a hurt tone.

"Mom, we're not really dating. Not yet. Tonight is our first date. I promise, I was going to call if things turned out well." I reassure her.

"Oh, well tell me about him. What's his name, what does he do, where's he from? I want details." Mom presses.

"Well, his name is Derek Morgan. He's a detective, my partner, actually." I answer her questions as I get out of bed an walk down to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. "He grew up in Tampa; moved here for school. I promise he's a good guy, Mom."

"Well, that's good. I trust you. I thought you weren't aloud to date your co workers, though." Mom says as we settle into a sense of familiarity. The coffee pot beeps letting me know it's finished, so I pour a cup, add a little sugar and milk and sit at the kitchen table.

"You can't date your superiors." I explain. "It's okay to date your partner as long as it doesn't effect your work." I clarify for her.

"Oh, okay." Mom does not even pause for a breath. "So is he marriage material? You know I want grandkids. The sooner the better." And there it is, I tell myself. I can practically hear her smile radiating through the phone.

"Mom." I warn her gently. "I just met the guy a week ago."

"Sorry." Mom manages to sound contrite. "So, anyway, how was your first week as a detective anyway." She changes the subject.

"Um, it was okay, I guess." My voice drops a little as I reply and I know my mom would pick up on it, unfortunately.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? Did something happen? You didn't get hurt, did you?" She immediately starts to worry.

"No, I didn't get hurt. It's just..." I begin with a heavy sigh. "Do you remember Melanie?" I ask.

"Of course, but that was what ten years ago. What got you thinking about her?" Mom sounds confused.

"We got this case, a 15 year old girl raped and stabbed to death. She looked just like her; it was Deja vu."

"That's horrible! Did you get the guy?"

"Yeah, but not before he killed a second girl. There was a moment that I really thought he was back; that he killed those girls to."

"You did your job. You got the guy. I'm proud of you, Emily." I could tell that Mom truly meant what she said.

"Thanks, Mom." I smile into the phone. "How is London." I attempt to change the conversation. The current topic was getting me down.

"It's good. A bit chilly, but the food and the company are great. I miss you, though." I smile a bit.

"I miss you too, Mom."

We talk a few more minutes before hanging up. After that, I clean up for the day. The rest of the day I spend relaxing watching a couple movies and talking on the phone pointedly ignoring calls from both Garcia and Jen. I finally get up and start getting ready for dinner at 6 pm. My smile never leaves my face as I go through the motions of showering. I had been looking forward to this date all day. I can't wait to spend some time with Derek alone. I enjoyed spending time with the group, but this is different, more personal.

Stepping out of the shower, I wrap the towel around myself and step into the walk in closet to pick out the perfect dress. Derek had called me earlier that day to tell me he was picking me up at 7:30 and to dress nicely; this had my interest piqued as to where exactly he was taking me. Finally, I spot the perfect dress. It was red, knee length, figure hugging and strapless. Taking it out of the closet, I lay it on the bed, grab my gold stilettos and gold handbag. They get tossed on the bed with the dress and I slip on shorts and a tank top to dry my hair, planning to change into the dress later.

After drying my hair, I pull it up into a sleek up-do, leaving a few loose strands curled and hanging around my face, and apply my make-up. By now it was 7:15, so I slip on the dress, place a tube of lipstick , my phone and wallet in to my handbag. I spray on some perfume, grab the bag, my shoes and head downstairs. Sitting on the couch, I slip on my shoes and wait patiently. The door bell rings a few moments later. Standing up, I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding, straighten out my dress and walk to the door.

**A/N: my first update of 2011! Now getting more serious first i want to thank my beta you rock! second i haven't been getting many reviews a lot of you have favorited or alerted but i could really use some reviews on this one to tell me if I'm doing good or not. I hope you Enjoyed this chapter PLZ REVIEW.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

(Derek)

I hear the sound of footsteps approaching the door and quickly hide the flowers I had bought behind my back. I had stopped at one of the flower stands on the side of the road on my way and picked up some pink orchids. Hopefully she would like them.

My smile brightens as Emily opens the door. she looks breathtaking in her red dress. Her hair is pulled up, bringing out her big brown eyes. I mentally force myself not to let my jaw hang open as I look her up and down. She bites her lower lip nervously and I realize I still hadn't said anything.

"Wow you, you look amazing." I finally force the words out of my mouth as the fog clears away.

"Thank you, you too." Emily smiles, a slight blush coming to her cheeks.

"These are for you." I bring the flowers out from behind my back. The look of surprise on her face makes me smile even bigger. She takes the flowers.

"I.. Thank you. Come in; let me put these in water, and we can head out." She steps aside allowing me entrance. I follow her in and she disappears into what is presumably the kitchen. While she's gone, I quietly pace the floor. She reappears a few minutes later and places the vase of flowers on the coffee table.

"Ready?" Emily turns to me, a bright smile on her face.

"Yeah, lets go." I gently place my hand on her lower back and lead her out the door. Once it is locked we get into my car and head toward the restaurant.

The ride itself is fairly quiet. We pull up to the restaurant a few minutes later. I hand the keys to the valet and Emily and I walk into the restaurant hand in hand. Once we are seated at our table, the waiter takes our drink order and disappears.

"This place is amazing! How did you get us in?" Emily queries once we are alone.

"Friend of mine is one of the managers." I explain with a small smile, meant only for her.

"Well, thank you." Emily blushes as she speaks.

"Your welcome." I reply with a smile.

"So... here we are." I say nervously.

"Right, here we are." She replies back biting her lower lip a sign that she is nervous as well.

"Why are we so nervous?" I ask with a small laugh, she starts laughing as well and soon the people at the table next to us are looking at us funny.

"I don't know; it's not like this is the first time we've met."

"Okay, so how are you doing? I know that last case was kind of hard on you." I as sincerely, truly caring for her well-being.

"I'm good. Really good actually." Emily smiles reassuringly, and I know she is telling the truth.

The waiter comes back with our drinks and takes our order before he leaves again.

"I heard Jen and Dave hit it off at the party." Emily ventures.

"Yes, they did! He called me this morning to tell me how much fun it was." I reply, nodding.

"It was fun, wasn't it? I'm surprised at how well everyone got along."

"Yeah, enough about that." I say suddenly, grinning. "Tell me something about Emily Prentiss that no one else knows." I stare into her eyes, yet I still notice her rising blush.

"That's a hard one." Emily stares back. "Umm... Lets see. I was terrified of the color black when I was a kid."

"Really?" I chuckle. "Why's that?"

"When I was five, one of the boys in my kindergarten class convinced me that if you wore black it meant you were possessed by the devil. I walked around for weeks avoiding anything that had to do with the color until my mom convinced me otherwise." Emily explains. "I even threw away anything black I had in my closet, much to my mothers displeasure." The story has us both laughing.

"It's funny the things we believe when we're that little, isn't it?"

"It is!" Emily nods, smiling. "So tell me something about _you_ that no one else knows." She turns my question back on me.

"Okay, fair enough. Lets see, I'm obsessed with the _Twilight_ series, but you can't tell any one, especially the guys at the station."

"Fair enough." Emily says in between laughs. I know she's laughing at me, but I don't mind; she looks so beautiful doing it.

Our food comes and we eat in between conversation, talking about everything form work to our families and friends. By the time dinner is over, an hour and a half later, we feel like we had known each other forever. After I pay the bill, we walk out to the car. Emily pulled close against me, our arms wrapped around each others waists. The valet guy gets us our car, I open her door for her be fore getting in and heading back to her place. The ride is filled with friendly conversation and before we know, it we're at her house. I turn off the car and turn toward Emily.

"I'd invite you in, but that's my mothers car." She points to the black Lincoln parked in front of us. "What is she even _doing_ here? She's not due into town till Monday."

"That's okay. Next time. Let me at least walk you to your door. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." I request earnestly.

"That would be great." Emily smiles. We walk to the door hand in hand, as slow as we can. Nether of us really want the night to end, but we know it has to. At the door, she turns to me and smiles.

"Thanks for everything. Tonight it was amazing." Emily almost whispers.

"My pleasure." I brush away a strand of loose hair out of her face, my voice equally as low. I cup her cheek and place a soft kiss on her lips. One becomes two, then three. She wraps her arms around my neck and I deepen the kiss. We pull apart a moment later and I rest my forehead against hers.

"I better go." I whisper reluctantly, taking a step backwards. "Your moms probably waiting."

"Yeah, I'll see you Monday. Thanks again I had a great time."

"Me to; I'll call you." I start walking backwards toward the sidewalk.

"Good night, Derek." Emily unlocks the door.

"Good night. Emily." I reply back as she opens the door and steps inside. Once the door is shut, I get in the car and drive away with a happy smile on my face.


	11. Chapter 11

Partners Chapter 11

(Emily)

When I walk into the living room, my mom is sitting on my couch with a glass of wine. When she sees me walk in, she just stares at me intently, obviously waiting for me to speak first. "Mom," I toss my hand bag on to the empty love seat and begin removing my shoes, using the arm rest for support. "This is surprise." I exclaim as cheerfully as possible. The last thing I want to do is come across irritated, even though I was incredibly irritated; I wasn't quite ready for my evening with Derek to end.

"I got my assistant to cover for me for a few days. I couldn't wait to see you." Mom tells me. "Tell me about Derek; was that him that dropped you off? What were you doing out this late? It's almost 11:30." She smiles as she begins to interrogate me.

"Yes, that was him. We were on a date. Why else would I be wearing this?" I point to my dress before turning and heading into the kitchen. I pour myself a glass of wine and take a seat next to my mom on the couch.

"I guess this means things are going well between the two of you." she smiles as she says this.

"I guess, yeah, but it's still early. This was our first actual date." I explain and set my glass down next to the flowers Derek had given me. The sight of them brings a smile to my face.

"Well, judging by that kiss, it wasn't the first time." Mom smirks knowingly. My cheeks instantly redden.

"Mother! You were watching?" I half yell. I can't believe her! Hasn't she heard of privacy?

"What was I supposed to do? I got bored. I've been here for an hour." Mom shrugs. I still could not excuse her.

"Oh my God." I throw myself onto the back of the couch and roll my eyes at the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Mom asks in amusement.

"Sure." I mutter under my breath. I turn my head back to look at her and simultaneously sit back up. "Can we please talk about something else now?"

"Well, if you're not going to tell me about him, I guess I cold have somebody run a background check." Mom begins toying with the stem of her wine glass. I seethed inside, knowing that she was serious. She really would do a background check.

"Fine." I consent reluctantly. After taking a rather large gulp of wine, I begin to tell her what she wants, at the same time telling myself that this I the last thing I wanted to be doing. "Obviously you know what he looks like. He's a really good cop. He's really nice. I don't think I would have been able to get through that case without him. Uh, I don't know, what do you want to know?" Mom rolls her eyes.

"How old is he? What about his family?" Mom queried.

"He's 28." I reply. "His mom and two sisters live in Chicago; his dad died when he was a kid. That's really all I know."

"You guys seem close, though." Mom remarks while taking in what I had just told her.

"We are." I agree, nodding. "It's weird! I feel like I've known him for years. When we're together it's so easy and conformable." I confess.

"You're falling for him." Elizabeth smiles."I'm really happy for you; I hope it lasts." Mom pulls me into a hug. I can tell by the tone of her voice that she really means it, and that makes me happy.

"Thanks, me too." I hug her back. "So why are you really here? You could have called to ask about my love life." I inquire when she pulls back.

"I was worried about you." Mom confesses. "You sounded upset on the phone. I had to see that you were okay for myself." Her concern and the fact that she flew all the way here brings tears to my eyes. I quickly blink them away.

"Thank you. It really is good to see you." I squeeze her hand that had been resting on her knee to show my sincerity.

"You to, Em. I missed you."

"Where are you staying? Have you booked a room somewhere?" I ask.

"No, the trip was last minute, but I can get a room anywhere." Mom replies.

"No, you can stay here. The guestroom is empty." I all but order her, shaking my head.  
"That would be great!' She smiles genuinely.

"Okay, if you don't mind. I'm going to head to bed, but tomorrow we will have lunch and do some shopping." I propose. I really was tired. The last week was kind of draining.

"Sounds great! I'll get my bag out of the car and do the same. The red eye is called the red eye for a reason." Mom jokes, standing.

"Okay; go ahead and make your self at home." I grab my shoes and purse and start toward the hallway. The sound of my mom calling my name gets my attention and I turn back to her.

"You look very beautiful tonight."

"Thank you. You too."

" Right, you don't have to lie." Mom laughs as she replies. "Sleep well, sweetie." Mom slips out the front door. I silently walk to my room.

…...…... Monday morning …...

(Derek)

"I was kinda hoping you'd wear the red dress to work today." I whisper in Emily's ear. She had been leaning against the table that holds the coffee pot talking with one of the other female detectives when I walked in. I had managed to sneak up behind her without her noticing. At the sound of my voice she jumps and whips around so that she is now looking me straight in the eye. The look she gives me is enough to make anyone want to crawl under a rock and die.

"If you _ever_ sneak up on me like that again, I _will _shoot off a very important part of your anatomy." Emily hisses through gritted teeth. With a gulp, I back up slowly and notice that half the precinct is watching us closely.

"My bad, princess, I didn't mean to scare you." I take my seat and watch her baffled expression.

"I... you didn't scare me." Emily claims with a stubborn tone and sits at her own desk.

"Really. So you jumped two feet in the air for fun?" I smirk at her.

"Yes, yes I did." Emily smiles brightly.

"Okay." I turn to my computer and turn it on. "How was the shopping trip with your mom?"

"It was good, but I will _never _do it again. She dragged me around town for 7 straight hours. I thought I was going to die." Emily explains. "How is it that a woman twice my age has more energy than I do?"

"I don't know." I laugh not knowing what else to say. "How long is she in town for?"

"A couple weeks, but her reservation at the hotel starts tonight so I have my apartment to myself." I respond. A little chit chat and a lot of paperwork later finds the time at 1:00.

"I need everyone's attention." Gideon yells from the the middle of the room. Immediately, everyone stops talking and gives him their full attention. When Gideon yells it means it's bad news. "There was a shooting at the Capital Grille. Thirteen dead, including two off duty officers, eighteen critically injured. Everyone is on this case. Morgan and Prentiss, I need you to head over to Mercy Hospital. Get as many statements as you can. Jones and Greene, you're going to the crime scene with me. Everybody else, canvas the streets. Someone had to see something. Lets go." As he concludes his speech, the only noise in the room is officers grabbing their guns and badges out of drawers and hurrying out the door toward the parking lot


	12. Chapter 12

**PLEASE READ**

**A/N: okay just a few quick notes. First, thanks so much to my beta for helping me with this story you're great!. second, I'm making a lot of this medical on the job stuff up so if something seams off I am sorry, just send me a pm and let me know I will fix it. Also, I want to apologize for taking so long to update this I just got temporary custody of my sisters two kids again one ia a year old and one is three so now I have three kids under the age of three to take care of and it is almost impossible to find time to write. Tho only time I can is late at night and by then I just want to sleep while my 6 month old does. The next couple months updates might be kind of short and far apart. But I'm not giving up. Please don't give up on me. Thanks in advance to those of you who understand. And lastly please review and let me know what you think of the chapter!**

**P.S. Obviously my A/n wasn't beta'd sorry about that**

**P.S.S sorry that this 'quick' a/n turned out so long anyway. On with the story...:D**

Partners

Chapter 12

(Emily)

As Derek and I enter the doors of the emergency room, the smell of blood and antiseptic overwhelms our senses and the sound of cries from both children and adults fill the air. Doctors and nurses are rushing back and forth. The whole scene is complete chaos.

"Should we split up or..." I trail off and look at Derek, who is quietly observing our surroundings as if trying to find the best plan of action. "How do you want to do this?"

"Honestly, if we split up, one of us will probably get lost." He grins slightly at me before continuing. "We need to find the person in charge and go from there."

"Sounds good." I nod in agreement and we begin surveying the room. I notice a short redheaded woman holding a clip board about twenty feet away. It appears like she is ordering a couple of nurses around. ;That's who we need', I tell myself. "Over there." I gently nudge Derek to get his attention and point toward the woman I just saw. He looks over to where I am pointing and motions for me to follow him as he begins to walk toward the woman; I follow silently.

The woman look up as we approach and scowls at us. "Reporters are to stay outside." she points to the doors and turns away. Derek looks at me his eyebrow raised comically. I just shrug and smile in response. He shake his head and walks purposefully toward the woman's retreating back I follow his lead and do the same.

"Excuse me, ma'am." he testily taps the woman on the shoulder when he catches up with her.

"What?" she spits out impatiently and whips her head around. " I said rep.." she begins but I cut her off.

"We know what you said, ma'am." I flash her my badge with quick jerky motions. Her attitude was really starting to get to me. It didn't help that traffic on the way here was bumper to bumper, and it was 100 degrees out. We had turned on the siren but it had been useless. What should have been a ten minute drive had turned into a half an hour. "My partner, Detective Morgan, and I are here about this afternoons shooting. We need to see the survivors that were brought in and get their statements. So, if it's not to much to ask, could you please pull the stick out of your ass and point us in the right direction." By the time I am finished with my little rant my voice had raised slightly and Derek is grinning at me. The nurse has and enraged look on here face. The clipboard in her hand is shaking a little telling me that I had made her so mad her hands were shaking. A small smile creeps onto my face and I mentally give myself a little round of applause.

"Those patients were moved into the critical care unit. Need to go through those doors and straight down the hall. It's the last door on the left." She grinds out, pointing us in the right direction. Once that is done, she storms off and leaves me and Derek standing alone in the middle of the busy room.

"Feel better now?" Derek looks down at me I can tell he is trying to hold in his laughter.

"Shut up and let's go." I wipe the smile off my face and head in the direction the stupid cranky nurse had pointed us in. I hear Derek's footsteps behind me and take a deep breath. I really did feel better.

(Derek)

I smile to myself as I follow Emily down the hall. The way she had told off that nurse was impressive, sexy even. I'd really hate to be on her bad side. I smirk while secretly admiring the sway of her hips. Or at least so I thought.

"Derek, will you please stop staring at my ass?" she requests with out even turning around. Damn. How did she do that?

I shake my head and follow her as she steps through the doors of the CCU. A small blonde doctor meets us once the doors had shut behind us. By this point, Emily and I were standing side by side. I quietly convey to her that I had this and turn to the doctor.

"Hi, Detectives Morgan and Prentiss. We're here to get statements from the victims of the shooting; we were told they were brought here." I explain, at the mention of our names, both Emily and I had flashed our badges. The young doctor's smile turns to a frown as I finish.

"Of course." she nods understandingly. "Follow me and I can give you an update on the situation." At her request, we follow her as she leads us into one of the small waiting rooms. Once there both Emily and I take a seat across from the doctor. Emily takes out her note pad and begins taking notes on what the doctor has to say. "Sorry about that; it's just this is a little more private, with the families going in and out I didn't want to panic any one." the doctor explains.

"We understand, thank you." Emily reassures her with a slight smile.

"Eighteen patients were brought in, and it isn't looking good. So far, eight of those have died - three before they reached the hospital and the other five shortly after they arrived. The shock of their injuries and the blood loss was just to much."

"What about the other ten?" I interrupt.

"Five of then are in emergency surgery. The injuries of the remaining five weren't as severe. A couple of them were still in shock so we had to sedate them. But if you're looking to get statements, you want to talk to" she pauses and looks down at the chart in her hand."Brian Johnson in room 362, or Annabelle Davis in, uh, room 370. They received fairly minor injuries and are currently resting. We'll move them later this afternoon once things slow down a little." She finishes without even looking up.

"Great! Is there someone we can see about getting the name's and information on the rest of the victims?" Emily asks from beside me just as the doctors pager begins to beep. She checks it before answering Emily.

"If you ask the nurse at the information desk located right down the hall, she can print that information out for you. I'm sorry, I have to go tend to one of the shooting victim. I'll try to get back to you later. Is there anything else?" she answers with a sense of urgency.

"No, that's all, thank you." I reply and she politely excuses herself.

Emily and I follow her out of the room moments later and head the direction of the patient rooms. We are about to arrive at the first one when the sound of someone flat-lining catches my attention. I pause to look and see what's going on. The doctor we were just talking to is in the room trying to revive the patient. I realize with a jolt that I knew the patient. No, I try to reassure myself, this isn't happening. Without even thinking I storm into the room, leaving a very confused Emily standing in the hall.

When I enter the room, no one even notices. I watch for a few minutes at they try to bring him back. The dread builds in my gut, increasing with each passing second. Finally, one of the nurses notices me and shoos me out. I meet back up with Emily who hadn't moves from her spot in the hall, standing there with a very confused look on her beautiful face.

(Emily)

When Derek finally comes out of the room he had walked into, his face is pale and his fists are clenched at his sides. My gut tells me to leave him be and follow his lead but my curiosity gets the better of me.

"What was that about?" I ask him. His dark eyes find mine and just stare as if he was trying to burn holes in them.

"Later." He spits out tersely and starts walking down the hall to our original destination.

The first room we come to is Brian Johnson's room. He stares at us as we walk in. I notice his left arm is up in a sling and the slight cut on his cheek. We introduce ourselves to him and he agrees to give his statement, after explaining his injuries. He tells us that he really didn't see anything he was busy trying to protect his wife. Tears form in his eyes as he mentions her. He continues saying that she had been 7 months pregnant with their first child, but that she had died before the ambulance had even got there. He also mentions that he thought the guy was white about 6 ft and that he seen a black Jeep Grand Cherokee pull into the restaurant a few minutes before the shooting started. We thank him and Derek gives him his card telling him to call if he can think of anything else.

The next interview with Annabelle Davis goes pretty much the same, only this time she had been shot in the abdomen, as well as sustaining a few cuts and scrapes from the broken glass. She tells us that the shooter was white, showed up in a black SUV and that he had a tattoo of a leprechaun on the inside of his right forearm. She also mentions that a black man had been driving the SUV. I give her my card and thank her before Morgan and I excuse our selves. Up to this point he hadn't really said anything. Even though he was obviously worried, he didn't let that keep him from doing his job well or from keeping his focus while getting witness statements. I try not to worry but it is so much harder then it seems. Once we are in the hall he leans against the wall an scrubs his hand over his face. His worry I etched all over it.

"Why don't you go check on that guy." I suggest gently placing a reassuring hand on his arm. I know that he really wanted to find out what was going on."I'm going to go get more patient information from the information desk, and call Gideon to update him." Derek nods in agreement and we go our separate ways.

It take the woman at the desk 25 minutes to print a simple piece of paper, which really ate at my nerves. I wasn't having the best experience with nurses today. Once the paper is in my hand, I find an empty corner and call Gideon. I inform him on the conditions of the survivors, and about statements we had got. He tells me to head back to the station and that a patrol cop would be sent to check on the people still in surgery. When I hang up, I turn around and Derek is standing at most eight inches away from me. I hadn't expected him to be there; his presence makes me jump about a foot in the air. This in turn makes him crack a smile. I glare at him a little, then relay Gideon's words. We are getting into the car ten minutes later when Derek speaks up.

"Thanks for letting me go back" He says quietly. I didn't hesitate.

"No problem, you needed it. Was everything okay when you went back? You don't seem so tense." I observe.

"He was still alive, so that's good." I could tell that Derek was very relieved by this piece of information.

"Who is he?" I turn my head toward Derek in curiosity. By this time, the traffic had died down a little, at least back to it's normal pace for 4:30, almost 5, in the afternoon.

"Frank Jordan, my fathers partner." He explains. "After my dad died, Frank would come around, take me to baseball games, help my mom out around the house. We were pretty close, then I left for college and we just drifted apart."

"I'm sorry." I tell him, not really knowing what else to say. The rest of the car ride is pretty silent. One of us would make a comment here and there but not much. We pull into the station and notice Gideon's car right off the bat. Obviously he had returned to talk to us.

When we walk into the squad room, he steps out of his office and calls us up. We explain the witness statements in more detail and that Frank Jordan had also been a victim. He takes offense to this since he had known Frank personally as well. He tells us to run the description of driver and car through the computer. He also explains that he would be in his office reviewing security footage and to come up if we got anything.

When we get to our desks, we agree that Derek would begin looking for a match on the tattoo and I would try to find a person matching the description we got to a black Grand Cherokee.

Two hours later, the searches are still running and Derek and I are working on paper work while at the same time carrying on a conversation about how our friends were doing. He informs me about Dave and Aaron's latest case and about little Jack's upcoming birthday party. I tell him how the girls are doing and about the date Jen and Dave had last night. His surprise at the news makes me laugh. As I'm laughing his computer beeps indicating a match in his search. Both of our heads shoot to his computer at the sound our previous conversation forgotten.

"We got two matches: George Foyet and Carl Arnold. Both in their early thirties. Foyet was charged with assault on minor in '06. If he was our guy, his prints would have popped. Refine your search to Carl Arnold; I think we have our guy." he smiles at me. Little does he know I am one step ahead of him. I had already refined the search to look for the names out of the thousands of hits I had already got. My computer beeps a few seconds later, a match to Carl Arnold.

"Got it!, Carl Arnold the proud owner of a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee." I exclaim. We both print our results and head into Gideon's office. He looks up as we enter. We quickly explain what we found, the three of us start to search the security footage for any sign of our suspect. After about fifteen minutes, Derek spots him on one of the tapes and points him out. After that Gideon makes a call to a judge and gets an arrest warrant. Once the warrant is secure one of the patrol units that is already out looking for witnesses goes to pick him up.

Gideon congratulates us and sends us home. It was already almost 10:30 and it had been a long day. He assures us that he would handle the Arnold interrogation personally and not to worry about anything. We thank him and go grab our stuff from our desks shutting down our computers at the same time. Minutes later we are walking in the parking garage.

"Hey Derek, you want come by my place? We can order takeout and watch a movie or something." I call out to him.

"Sure, I'm gonna run home and change first. I'll bring the food with me when I get there." Derek readily agrees. We both get into our cars with smiles on our faces.

Sure enough, true to his word, he knocks on my door 40 minutes later, a bag of Chinese food in hand. He had gone and changed into a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. I smile at the sight of him, and let him in. We watch _The Next Three Days_ while we eat. After the movie is over, we sit around just relaxing sharing stories from our childhood and drinking a beer. Finally, when the clock strike three, I kiss Derek good bye and he heads home since we both had to work at 8:00 the next morning. I go to bed in a good mood. It is not long before I fall asleep, the long day having caught up with me.


	13. Chapter 13

Partners

Chapter 14

(Emily) (Monday May 2nd )

Weeks had passed since the Carl Arnold case, in that time Derek and I had been out some more, as well as staying in. We were closer than ever before. We even had managed to double date with Jen and Dave once. The whole group of us, me and Derek, Jen and Dave, Hotch and Haley, Penelope, and Kevin had met up a bunch of times just to hang out. Penelope and Kevin had set a wedding date finally. The wedding was going to be September 10th My mom had only stayed for another two weeks. I had introduced Derek to her before she left and the two of them got along pretty well. Things at work were going well too. Gideon knew about our relationship and didn't seem to care as long as our work wasn't affected. Friday was going to be our two month anniversary and Derek was planing something but wouldn't tell me.

Today was Monday and I was on my way to meet up with Penelope and Jen. I had gotten off work an hour ago but stooped at my apartment to change. We had planned to meet up at 7:30 at Jen's place. I was already running a few minutes late but I knew Jen wouldn't care.

I quickly park my car as I pull up to her house. The lights are on and I can here my two best girlfriends laughing about something as I approach the door. I let myself in without knocking, they knew I was coming and I really wanted to sneak up on them. I quietly approach the living room where they were currently arguing over the latest season of American Idol.

"James is going to win, he's never been in the bottom and he's clearly the best." Jen Insists motioning with her hands at every word to emphasize her point.

"no, he's not. It's gonna be Lauren, She has the best voice." Pen fires back with just as much determination.

"Ladies, Break it up you're both wrong." I interrupt the both of them and walk into the room. They both jump at the sound of my voice and whip their heads around in my direction.

"Emily, you're finally here!" Jen smiles, "come on sit down we already poured you a glass of wine." she continues pointing to the full glass on the coffee table. I do as she tells me and relax into the back of the couch. Sipping the red liquid as I do.

"this is good." I point out unnecessarily. Both of the women nod their heads in agreement.

"so, whose your pick?" Pen asks

"for what?"

"American Idol." she explains the look on her face twisted in a frustrated scowl.

"Oh, Haley of course." I shrug.

" we need to bet, ten bucks for our favorite and whoever wins gets the pot." Jen suggests leaving no room to say no.

"okay but what if we all lose." I point out a serious look comes over Jen's face.

"then... we go out and spend it on drinks?" Penelope advises.

"I'm in." I reply removing a ten dollar bill from my purse and place it on the table, They follow suit.

"So tell us about Derek, How is everything going" Penelope asks a huge smile on her face. Jen nods enthusiastically.

"it's good, really good." I can't help but smile. "he's got something planed for Friday but he won't tell me. It's killing me I hate surprises."

"we know." Jen laughs.

"It'll be fine just relax." Penelope reassures me.

"i know it cant be worse then him surprising me with dinner at his parents house." Both women stare at me in shock. "oh, did I not mention that?" I ask innocently. I had purposefully withheld that information until to day and their reactions were priceless.

"wait, when, I …." Pen stutters

"why didn't you tell us sooner." Jen demands.

"Friday night, I would have told you sooner but this was too much fun you should see your faces right now." I laugh

"how did it go, were they nice?" Jen asks having regained her composure.

"it was fun, they were all very sweet. It was his mother and his two sisters. We're supposed to go back in a couple of weeks."

"awe, you guys are getting serious." Jen coos.

"i know, it's kind of scary, I mean I really think I'm falling for him and it's only been two months. But, enough about me, how is everything with Dave." I quickly turn the attention off of me.

"amazing, last weekend he took me up to his cabin. It was secluded and Very romantic." She smiles "he keeps it up the way he's going and I just might marry him one day."

the rest of the night goes pretty much the same, we talk about our relationships and our work along with how our friends are doing and other topics. Finally, at 11:30 Pen and I leave and head home.

Where I wait for Derek's call before going to bed.

(Derek)

a couple months had passed Since the Arnold case. Emily and I were doing great, I was currently at Dave's. Aaron was with us and we were in the living room Drinking beers and playing cards.

"Derek, How did Emily do at you're mom's house?" Hotch asks.

"great they all loved her, I think they like her better then me now."

"my parents are the same, they call Haley's phone now and talk to me when their done with her." Hotch smiles.

"good to hear, you two are good for each other." Dave nods before folding his hand.

"So what about you and Jen, you still together or have you moved on to the next blonde that crosses you're path." I tease him just to get a reaction out of him. I knew he was serious, he doesn't take just anyone to his cabin.

"screw you man, Jen's different. I think I really like this one so back off." he growls.

"Alright." I take the hint and back off.

Conversation quickly turns to work and whatever else comes to mind. About midnight I head home I had promised to call Emily before I went to bed. When I get home I feed the dog and take a quick shower. Once I'm dressed I walk back to the living room and grab my phone to call Emily. By now it's almost 12:30, I speed dial her number on my way to the kitchen to get something to eat. She answers after the third ring.

"sorry, my phone was in the bottom of my purse." she explains. "anyway, how are you.?"

"I'm alright, my apartment is quiet without you, and Clooney is pouting cause you're not here. Other than that I'm good." I smile into the phone, she just has that effect on me I can't help smile when I think about her.

"I was thinking the same thing. It's too quiet." she answers, " I had to turn to TV on just for the noise." I hear the muffled noise of the TV over the phone.

"how were the girls, anything new to report?" I ask popping some left over pizza into the microwave.

"not really, just girl talk, you know boys and movies and all that stuff" she teases. "what about you, you win anything."

"Cleaned 'em both out." I report happily.

"cheater." she laughs.

"no princess, it's called skill and I have it." I brag.

"um hum, we'll go with that."

"so, I was thinking since we don't have to work till three tomorrow,you want to meet up for coffee in the morning?"

"sounds good I know the perfect spot, you got a pen I'll give you the address." this was the perfect opportunity to take her to Bettie's shop, I still stopped by on almost a daily basis. Betty was dying to meet Emily since I talked about her a lot.

"hold on just a sec." I hear her sent the phone down and a minute later she comes back. "okay, ready when you are." she says.

"2258 E. Leon st. meet you there at 9. actually, lets make it 9:30."

"sounds great. I'm going to head to bed, but I'll see you tomorrow."

"okay, sweet dreams Princess.

"always Derek."

after she hangs up I finish eating, put my dishes up and then head to bed where I dream of Emily, and what tomorrow had to bring.

**I know it's been a really really long time. And I apologize, however there is a reason for that. The amount of reviews and alerts for this have started to drop and I am slowly loosing interest in continuing so if you are still reading this and would like to see it develop PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW. Thanks, Brittany**


	14. Chapter 14

Partners

Chapter 14

(May 3rd)

"Derek I'm so sorry I'm late, my alarm didn't go off this morning and I..." Emily stops as she walks in the door of the small coffee shop. Both Derek and a petite woman looking to be in her fifties staring at her intently with wide grins on their faces. Derek gets out of his chair and crosses the distance between them in a few long strides. Grabbing her arm he ushers her over to the bar stool next to the one he had been previously occupied by him.

"Don't worry about it, Emily I'd like you to meet Bettie." he points to the woman he'd been talking to when I walked in. "Bettie this beautiful woman is Emily." Derek smiles warmly.

"it's nice to meet you!" Emily smiles genuinely at the older woman and offers her hand. Bettie brushes it off and comes around the bar to wrap Emily in a hug.

"It's so nice to finally meet you. Derek's done nothing but talk about you for the last two months. I feel like I know you already."

Emily taken a back by Bettie's forwardness tentatively hugs her back, simultaneously gives Derek a questioning look.

Bettie pulls back from the hug and quickly returns to the other side of the bar. "So Emily what would you like? Anything you want its on the house!"

"wow I, Coffee I guess thank you." Emily recovers from the surprise of the events of the last few minutes.

"Derek you really have to stop surprising me like this." she says halfheartedly as she leans in to give him a kiss.

"i can't help it I like showing you off." He grins affectionate wiping a strand of hair out of her face. She smiles back at him just as Bettie returns steaming hot cup of coffee in hand. After setting it down she quickly goes to the other end of the counter to read the morning paper giving the young couple some time to themselves.

"so, How are the girls you didn't say much last night?" Derek asks taking a sip of his coffee.

"good, I think Jen really likes Dave, she started blushing every time his name was mentioned after the first few times I started doing it on purpose. It was hilarious. Pen, well she's herself you know."

"Dave's the same way." Derek shakes his head in amusement. " only us guys aren't so cruel we just change the subject." he teases.

"It wasn't cruel, it was entertaining. What about you, you guys have a good time last night?"

"yeah, I always have fun when I win!" Derek jokes. "do you have any plans Friday night?"

"Not yet, did you have something in mind?" Emily glances up at Derek while absentmindedly running her finger over the rim of her coffee cup.

"I promised Hotch I'd babysit Jack so he and Haley could go to dinner. Wanna keep us company, I'm sure jack wouldn't mind the company of a beautiful woman." he smiles.

"I, sure what time?" Emily blushes.

"you're cute when you blush."

"really Derek, cute? Puppies are cute, you can 't come up with anything better."

"nope." Derek grins smugly.

As 2:59 rolls around Derek Scans the room looking for Emily. At 11:30 they left the coffee shop and went their separate ways. On the days they didn't ride into work together Emily was always exactly 15 minutes early, today however she had less than a minute and he was starting to worry. However, he didn't need to worry. Emily came rushing in the squad room doors at exactly 3:00 struggling to juggle her suit jacket, a case file and her coffee in one hand while she used the other to tuck her button down shirt into the waistband of her black slacks.

Derek laughs to himself as Emily drops the stack of case files and lets out a few frustrated curse words. Deciding the situation could only get worse he goes to help her out. "Hey princess, having a little trouble." he teases when he reaches her.

"Shut up and help me Please."

Picking up the mild irritation in her voice he crouches down and begins collecting the last of the files, once that is done he reaches over and takes the rest out of her hands before standing.

As he does Emily does the same, her jacket resting over her forearm and the somehow un-spilled cup of coffee in her hand. With the other hand she smooths out her shirt and the pair make their way to their desks.

"Thanks" Emily turns to him as he sets the case files on her desk, she offers him a warm smile before placing her jacket on the back of her chair and sitting down.

"anytime." he grins at her and takes his own seat across from her.

"everything okay, you seem rushed." the concern in Derek's eyes brings a smile to Emily's face

"yeah, everything's fine I just, Penelope and Jen stopped by a couple hours ago and convinced me I needed to go with them to pick out Kevin's birthday gift so I was running late, I even had to change in my car on the way here."

"really." Derek Smiles, "while driving? "

"yup, thank god for red lights! Oh, I'm supposed to tell you that you're invited to Kevin's party. Well technically it was more of a demand then and invitation. The party is next week."

"sound's like fun. What did you girls pick out."

"what?" Emily asks confused.

"the gift."

"Oh." Emily shakes her head. "well, lets just say that it's a gift he won't be opening until after the party." She raises her eyebrow suggestively.

"did you get anything for yourself?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Emily turns her chair around to grab an empty form from her file cabinet. As she does she smiles to herself remembering the pink Victoria's secret bag in her trunk. She doesn't see Derek staring at the back of her chair or the slightly baffled expression on his face.. He quickly shakes his head and returns to the pile of paperwork on his desk, Images of Emily in sexy lingerie on his mind.

**Okay, its not the longest Chapter ever but it's something and if I get AT LEAST 5 more reviews. I will start the next one otherwise I will discontinue this story. Don't be afraid to review , if you want to see this go in specific direction or want a certain event to happen let me know, and of you like it let me know that too! Thanks . And remember constructive criticism is always welcome.**


	15. Chapter 15

Partners Ch. 15

(Party Part. 1)

**A/N: okay originally this was twice as long and a lot better. I was going to have this posted on Friday morning however, the night before my computer restarted itself for updates and I hadn't saved the document and I had to start over, so in order to get something out this weekend I cut in half and kind of rushed through it. I hope I caught all of the spelling mistakes but I probably didn't. For that I apologize. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and for the suggestions I will find a way to work them in! **

"Come on Em, we're already 10 minutes late." Derek calls as he looks at his watch yet again. They were supposed to be at Penelope's almost 15 minutes ago. He and Emily had gotten off work later than usual so to save time he had suggested that she change at his place since it was closer to the party and Emily already had half a closet full of her clothes there. When he had suggested it he'd thought it would ensure that they arrived on time. However, Emily had been in his bathroom for the last 40 minutes getting ready.

"I know I'm almost done, five more minutes" she calls back to him through the bathroom door. Derek just shakes his head and laughs this was the fifth time he'd gotten the same response, he didn't really care though, they'd get there when they got their. With that thought in mind he returned to his previous spot on the couch and began scratching Clooney's belly. The dog rolls over in appreciation giving his owner better access.

Meanwhile in the bathroom Emily was just about ready to pull her hair out. At first she hadn't been able to find anything to wear, most of the clothes she kept at Derek's place were work clothes. She'd finally found a pair of jeans in the very back of the closet and matched them with a lime green halter top. After he clothing dilemma had been taken care of she went in the bathroom to finish getting ready only to find that Clooney had chewed through the cord of her curling iron. With a frustrated sigh she picked up her brush and combed her hair into a sleek ponytail, all of this was made worse by Derek reminding her what time it was every five minutes. After he'd reminded her yet again that they were late she quickly added some eyeliner to the e small amount of makeup she'd applied before work and touched up her eye shadow a little. Satisfied that she looked alright she went to fond Derek to let him know she was ready, she found him on the couch talking to Clooney. Thinking the sight was to cute she decided to watch a few minutes as Derek told the dog all about how women took forever to get ready. She wasn't mad really she was actually rather amused. But when Derek looked up and noticed her she decided to play it differently and hardened her facial features

15 minutes later the two pull into Penelope's Drive way, Derek is starting to get desperate and really confused. Emily still hadn't said anything to him besides when she'd announced her presence and headed to the door. The looks she was giving him could make an iceberg freeze and then randomly when she thought he wasn't looking he'd catch her smiling as if she was trying not to laugh. Yes, Derek Morgan was one confused man. Emily Pulled into the driveway and turned the car off but made no effort to get out of the car. Derek observed this and did the same; he watched as Emily turned toward him with that steely look in her eye and braced himself for the worst.

"Derek we need to talk" she states firmly and watches as he gulps nervously before continuing. "I heard what you said to the dog" she crosses her arms defiantly over her chest.

"Emily honey, I…"

"I'm not done." she softens the features of her face. "I'm not really mad you were right. But you really should see your face right now it's priceless" She laughs. Derek continues to stare at her both his eyes and mouth wide." but you, I, are you sure?" He finally manages to laugh Emily's infectious laughter starting to get to him too. "You were awfully convincing, I was scared to breathe…" he rushes out. Emily grabs a hold of his face and kisses him, "come on we're late. And just like that she turns and exit's the car. Derek follows behind her still trying to wrap his head around the events of the last 20 minutes. As Emily raises her hand to knock on the door it swings open to reveal a very irate Penelope Garcia. However, when she sees whose at the door her expression quickly changes to one of joy.

"And here they are!" she ushers them in the house.

"Please tell me you are e late because you and chocolate god over there decided to spend some extra 'alone time' before coming over. If not you owe me an explanation" Penelope whispers in Emily's ear as the make their way back to where the party was.

"not exactly, why don't you ask officer Morgan why we're late" Emily replies loudly and grins maintaining direct eye contact with him as she waits for and answer.

"Well uh, that's not the important thing. We're here right. He grins and shrugs sheepishly.

"Okay, what's going on with you two?" Penelope demands stopping in her tracks making Emily run into her. Over the next few minutes Emily replays the story of Derek and the dog and the car ride over. By the time Emily is done Penelope is laughing hysterically and Derek is embarrassed. The threesome joins the rest of the party, both Emily and Penelope smiling at the sight of Jen curled up on Dave's lap Laughing and Dave smiling affectionately at her.

"Pen, how sweet is that." Emily grins deciding not to make their Presence known just yet. Hotch, Haley, Kevin stood on the other side of the room surrounded by a few of Kevin and Penelope's other friends, the group was laughing about something and Haley smacked Hotch on the back of the head. This drew more laughter out of the group.

"Well looks like we weren't missed." Derek quipped coming to stand by Emily, he quickly and wrapped his arm around Emily and pulled her closer to him.

"Oh yes you were I've got a ton of games planned and we had to wait for you to get here to start." Penelope replies pushing the couple into the room. "Alright, everybody, they're here. Now we can really get this party started." All of the party guests turn in their direction. Jen crawls out of Dave's lap and goes to greet her friend. After everyone had greeted each other Derek disappeared into the kitchen to get Emily and he a drink before Penelope began what ever she had planned.

**P.S. remember at least 5 reviews before the next chapter! PlZ review thanks**


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